Entrepreneurship in Business

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 Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4

Part A.........................................................................................................................................5

Reflection...............................................................................................................................5

Part B..........................................................................................................................................7

Steps were taken by Managers and employees to increase enterprise behaviour..................7

Recommendation....................................................................................................................9

Conclusion................................................................................................................................10

References................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
Entrepreneurship skills include various skill sets like leadership, business management,
critical thinking, creativity, teamwork, decision-making, business management skills etc.
(Škare, et.al, 2022). Entrepreneurship is considered an asset which is driven by entrepreneurs
in any country. It is essential in creating value, wealth and well-being of individuals as well.
Entrepreneurship is crucial in transforming society. Therefore it is required to motivate,
cultivate and remunerate entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs are individuals who are responsible
for creating a business out of thought or identifying the requirements of society and
developing a solution along with the management and assessing the risks that may be
confronted during its operations. The entrepreneurs can find opportunities and realise it. The
essay will reflect on the entrepreneurship theory from the module to detail personal
entrepreneurial attributes evidence in the workplace. The essay will also detail about the steps
managers and entrepreneurs are required to take in increasing enterprising behaviour in
organisations.

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Part A

Reflection

Social entrepreneurship has been gaining popularity among people wanting to pursue
entrepreneurship in recent years. Being a student of the module, I got the opportunity to
understand the theory of social entrepreneurship and obtain an understanding of attributes
which is essential to having success as an entrepreneur. I will reflect on my attributes about
entrepreneurship which I came across while in the role of manager at Alibaba.
The most important trait which is necessary for being an entrepreneur is passion. Without
passion, it is unimaginable to succeed in entrepreneurship as it is a driving force for a
successful business. As a manager, I am always passionate about making influence which is
positive for society. I have been part of various activities at my job which aimed to enhance
the lives of people associated with the company be it customers, employees, community
people etc. (Méndez-Picazo, et.al, 2021). The various sustainability initiatives taken by a
company like eliminating carbon footprints, and encouraging ethical practices allowed me to
contribute to society indirectly. This has also inspired me and my team to be socially
responsible.
Social entrepreneurship also requires having the attributes of creativity and innovation. With
the evolution of society, we are living in times of ever-mounting social and economic issues,
and the dynamics of society are constantly changing (Shu, Ho and Huang, 2020). The key
traits of a successful founder of social business are that they can think out of the box and
come up with original and, where possible, novel solutions to overcome the challenges it
faces. One of the most outstanding and satisfactory roles I have been fortunate to play in
Alibaba in my career has been to operate in a speedy and vibrant environment which is
growth-oriented. I have faithfully been the head of this social support team in trying to come
up with new ways to tackle, for example, employment for disadvantaged individuals and
improved education for underprivileged youths using information technology. These efforts
did not only create opportunities for the local community but also inspired the company as it
transitioned to a more responsible corporation.

One of the most unique features of social entrepreneur is the ability to take failure and use it
to their advantage. The process of founding and managing a social enterprise can be
complicated. It is referred to as being one of the hardest things left in life because it requires a

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large amount of energy, dedication and patience (Shahid and Alarifi, 2021). I have always
taken them as a golden opportunity to make myself better as an Alibaba market manager,
even though I haven’t been able to handle all the challenges properly some of the time. In
contrast, I treated these challenges as a ride of learning and enhanced my level of positivity as
well as stubbornness. For example, my team and I crossed the roadmaps by the end of the
pandemic when the supply chain disruptions took place and made sure that the ethical and
sustainable supply chain remained as usual. I have discovered that this strength is not only
good for me but it also motivates everyone in our group to be able to withstand and adapt to
any difficulties we encounter.

In the same way, an effective social entrepreneur must be strong in leadership skills too
(Canestrino, et.al, 2020). Of all the roles I ever played at Alibaba, being a manager and
handling a diverse team has been no doubt the most enriching. My learning here is that good
leadership is not about ordering others, rather, it is about encouraging and mandating others
to reach that common goal So far, I am a strong believer in walking the talk and I have been
forcing my team in the same way. This methodology has fostered a distinct identity of strong
teamwork and collaboration within our business, which is crucial in social issues.

The social entrepreneur must have a high factor of social sense of responsibility. This is about
knowing that our choices and endeavours are valued and that we have to do our part to
benefit society (Hock-Doepgen, et.al, 2021). In running Alibaba as its manager, one thing
that I have always taken into account is the company's social and environmental footprint.
My efficacy and my capabilities in advancing sustainable practices, including eliminating the
use of plastic and supporting eco-friendly packaging, have been stirred. Beyond that, I am
also in the position to be a part of charitable affairs, for example, I have coordinated during
natural disasters donation drives and back local societies and NGOs. Not only are such
actions significant for society, but they are also evidence of the fact that the company has a
sense of responsibility to society.

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Part B

Steps taken by managers and employees in increasing enterprise behavior

In a business world where change is the current reality, enterprise culture fostering becomes a
prerequisite for keeping pace with the rising competition and new challenges. At the
organisational level, enterprising behaviours occur as a response to pro-activeness, creativity,
and opportunists’ support for novel ideas, goods, and processes. These habits are key to every
marketing strategy which aims at gaining a competitive advantage, improving productivity,
and withstanding the competition, thus driving growth. Although managers often have the
key social responsibilities for encouraging and promoting entrepreneurial behaviours in the
working environment. Another essential element in the culture-building process is
employees- they play a vital role in developing a spirit of entrepreneurship. In this paper, the
strategies that managers and employees can employ to generate and sustain the
entrepreneurial culture in organisations will be discussed.
The managers' way of instigating entrepreneurial bent actions within their organisations is to
generate a climate that attracts and celebrates innovation and risk-taking (Johnson, et.al,
2020). This can be implemented by a distinctly formulated vision and mission for the
company which focuses on the entrepreneurial approach and calculated risks. The managers
ought to show the way by being inquisitive, by maintaining risks and in consequence by
creating a setting where employees can figure out and voice how they feel and what they
think. This can be carried out through the establishment of an open-door policy and giving
words of motivation to the team members, especially during scheduled meetings where they
can exchange ideas and work together.

The other key stage that managers will perform is to offer their employees important
resources and assistance to increase their entrepreneurial behaviours. This may comprise
training and development programs as well as management time and freedom given to the
employees to work on their ideas, and possibly a system of rewards and recognition for the
outcome (Gabriel and Aguinis, 2022). Achieving this goal will be possible by the manager
focusing on their employees' growth and development because the effort puts the enterprising
mindset of the employees at the forefront, whereby it also increases the motivation and
ownership of the employees to the company.

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Managers will need to strive to create an ambivalent organisational structure that promotes
independent thinking and employee decision-making. This entails the devolution of authority,
the involvement of employees, and decision-making without the terror of giving things away
incorrectly. This also leads to a culture characterized by more innovative and entrepreneurial
workers who are consequently motivated to own and take on responsibilities for their work.

Employees also possess an amazing potential to help the enterprising culture in corporations.
The first step for employees is to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, which implies being
creative, bearing risks, and being critical. They should be ready to pursue and create different
solutions. Employees can do this by continuing their learning and development through
research, attending training sessions and conferences, as well as proactively seeking out new
experiences and opportunities in their work environment.

The workers might as well demonstrate the characteristics of entrepreneurship through their
initiative in seeking the opportunities that lead to innovation and making an impact within
their organisation. It can be accomplished by continuously working on fresh ideas generation,
offering practical suggestions to already existing challenges and pursuing their
implementation. This way the employees can manifest their entrepreneurial nature and by this
way add their grain of salt to the progress and success of the organisation.

The employees enhancing their enterprising behaviour requires developing the attitude of
taking risks. The employees can amplify their enterprising behaviour by having the courage
to make critical decisions in unfavourable circumstances in the workplace (Jung, Kang and
Choi, 2020). They should learn to assess the situation and calculate the risk-reward with the
decision. This helps the employees in developing a rationale for the decisions taken and
fostering enterprise behaviour. This approach of risk-taking assists in creating confidence
within the employees and puts forward innovative ideas to be applied in the organisation.

The risk-handling behaviour leads the employee to acquire skills and move out of their
comfort zone which improves the entrepreneurial skills. Due to this employees overcome the
fear of failing and proceeding to the next level (Cacciotti, et.al, 2020). This also helps in
changing the thought process against the change into a positive and embracing the change.
This risk-taking helps in transforming the present situation into a more beneficial one.

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Recommendation

Focusing on the promotion of change within the workplace is crucial in many aspects. It
enables the organisation to have benefits like employee retention, increased productivity,
collaboration etc. When the culture of an organisation is oriented towards entrepreneurial
culture it motivates the employees to take risks and welcome innovations. This essay offers
important recommendations by which managers and companies can encourage
entrepreneurial culture to motivate employees to accept risk and cultivate innovations.
The organisation while recruiting employees for various roles should ensure that it hires
people who have the passion to become entrepreneurs. Such people have the qualities of
entrepreneurs engraved within their DNA which inspires the workforce and creates a
productive culture. The candidates who aspire to be entrepreneurs have innovative mindsets,
creativity and leadership qualities which assist the workforce in squeezing out the
entrepreneurial spirit (Seibert, Nielsen and Kraimer, 2021).
The people holding managerial positions in the company should also strive to empower and
motivate the employees to build confidence and promptly share innovative opinions. The
employees have unique ideas which have the potential to enhance the task, process etc., but
they do not have the confidence and are concerned with the failure or sharing comfortably
with the superiors. Thus, managers need to ensure that even employees need to allow sharing
their creative opinions as it can lead to significant benefits for the organisation and overall
culture.

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Conclusion
The essay concluded that entrepreneurship skills are vital for people associated with a
business whether it is managers, or employees as it facilitates in practical realization of an
idea which creates a valuable business or solution for a problem. The essay detailed the social
entrepreneurship theory and reflected on the personal attributes like creativity, innovation,
risk, accepting failure etc. evident as a manager in Alibaba. The essay also detailed the
necessary steps taken by managers and employees which resulted in increasing the
enterprising behaviour in the organisation along with the recommendations.

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References
Books and Journals
Cacciotti, G., Hayton, J.C., Mitchell, J.R. and Allen, D.G., 2020. Entrepreneurial fear of
failure: Scale development and validation. Journal of Business Venturing, 35(5), p.106041.
Canestrino, R., Ćwiklicki, M., Magliocca, P. and Pawełek, B., 2020. Understanding social
entrepreneurship: A cultural perspective in business research. Journal of Business
Research, 110, pp.132-143.
Gabriel, K.P. and Aguinis, H., 2022. How to prevent and combat employee burnout and
create healthier workplaces during crises and beyond. Business Horizons, 65(2), pp.183-192.
Hock-Doepgen, M., Clauss, T., Kraus, S. and Cheng, C.F., 2021. Knowledge management
capabilities and organisational risk-taking for business model innovation in SMEs. Journal of
Business Research, 130, pp.683-697.
Johnson, A., Dey, S., Nguyen, H., Groth, M., Joyce, S., Tan, L., Glozier, N. and Harvey,
S.B., 2020. A review and agenda for examining how technology-driven changes at work will
impact workplace mental health and employee well-being. Australian Journal of
Management, 45(3), pp.402-424.
Jung, K.B., Kang, S.W. and Choi, S.B., 2020. Empowering leadership, risk-taking behaviour,
and employees’ commitment to organisational change: The mediated moderating role of task
complexity. Sustainability, 12(6), p.2340.
Méndez-Picazo, M.T., Galindo-Martín, M.A. and Castaño-Martínez, M.S., 2021. Effects of
sociocultural and economic factors on social entrepreneurship and sustainable
development. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 6(2), pp.69-77.
Seibert, S.E., Nielsen, J.D. and Kraimer, M.L., 2021. Awakening the entrepreneur within
Entrepreneurial identity aspiration and the role of displacing work events. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 106(8), p.1224.
Shahid, S.M. and Alarifi, G., 2021. Social entrepreneurship education: A conceptual
framework and review. The International Journal of Management Education, 19(3),
p.100533.
Shu, Y., Ho, S.J. and Huang, T.C., 2020. The development of a sustainability-oriented
creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship education framework: a perspective
study. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, p.1878.

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Škare, M., Blanco-Gonzalez-Tejero, C., Crecente, F. and Del Val, M.T., 2022. Scientometric
analysis on entrepreneurial skills-creativity, communication, leadership: How strong is the
association?. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 182, p.121851.

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