Topic 1: Overview: Entrepreneurial Mindset, Team Formation, Innovation and Ideas,

Products and Services

INTRODUCTION

Technopreneurship is simply entrepreneurship applied in a technology–intensive context.

It is often associated with innovation which is the union of technology and market needs
resulting in the creation of value added products and services that are scalable and
relevant. According to Banatao (2015) and Amante, A. and Ronquillo, T. (2017) both
entrepreneurship and innovation are tools and drivers for economic development.

Entrepreneurs are NOT born.

They are driven to it. And this same drive enables them to do what is necessary to be an
entrepreneur.
If you have ever had a feeling in the pit of your stomach — that you are meant to do
something bigger, more meaningful, and all yours — you are an entrepreneur. You just
need to learn to think like an entrepreneur.

Specific Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the chapter the students would be able to:
• Discuss entrepreneurial mindset, team formation, innovation and ideas
• Identify products versus services

MOTIVATION
Take a look at the picture.

What comes to mind upon seeing the picture?

CONCEPTS
ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET
Entrepreneurial mindset is
• a way of thinking that enables you to overcome challenges, be decisive, and accept
responsibility for your outcomes.
• It is a constant need to improve your skills, learn from your mistakes, and take
continuous action on your ideas.
• Anyone willing to do the work can develop an entrepreneurial mindset.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
1. Decisiveness
• ability as a decision-maker will make or break future successes.
• failing to take action is indecisiveness.
• It takes practice to master and it begins with small decisions in the business of
daily life.

2. Confidence
• one the of the most important qualities of an entrepreneur.
• Whether it's getting on stage to speak, launching your product, or learning how
to start a blog and publishing your ideas to the world, we tend to see others doing
it and incorrectly assume they've always been good at it.

3. Accountability
• Is taking responsibility for your actions and outcomes.
• You need to internalize and accept that:
Everything that happens at work – YOU are responsible for.
Everything that happens to your business – YOU are responsible for.
Whether you succeed or fail, it is YOUR responsibility.

4. Resilience
• The need to learn to deal with making mistakes and failing. They are inevitable
and a part of one’s growth.
• If every misstep plummets you into self-doubt, you have to change the way you
look at being wrong.
• This mindset shift takes resilience and is foundational to the entrepreneurial
mindset.
• Success rarely happens in a straight line. Taking wrong turns and making
mistakes is something that happens to everyone.

5. Humility
• is freedom from pride or arrogance, and it ties all of the characteristics of
entrepreneurship.
 • From decisiveness to confidence, humility will keep you focused and centered.
• From accountability to resilience, you will continue to move forward through
failure, mistakes, and upsets.

TEAM FORMATION
Each stage plays a vital part in building a high-
functioning team. In 1965, a psychologist named
Bruce Tuckman said that teams go through 5 stages
of
development: forming, storming, norming, perform
ing and adjourning.

The stages start from the time that a group first

meets until the project ends.

5 Stages:
1. Forming: getting to know each other stage

During this stage, you may discuss:

• Member’s skills, background and interests
• Project goals
• Timeline
• Ground rules
• Individual roles

2. Storming
• recognizing conflicts and resolving them

3. Norming
• Storming sometimes overlaps with norming. As new tasks arise, groups may still
experience a few conflicts
• If you’ve already dealt with disagreement before, it will probably be easier to
address this time

4. Performing
• In the performing stage, members are confident, motivated and familiar enough
with the project and their team that they can operate without supervision
• Everyone is on the same page and driving full-speed ahead towards the final goal

5. Adjourning
• Once a project ends, the team disbands
• This phase is sometimes known as mourning because members have grown
close and feel a loss now that the experience is over
INNOVATION AND IDEAS
“An IDEA can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it.” – Bill
Bernbach

Sokolova in 2015 stated that:

• Innovation and creativity have become critical skills for achieving success in
developed companies
• There is no innovation without creativity
• Creativity is the ability to produce new and unique ideas
• Innovation is the implementation of that creativity – which introduces new idea,
solution, process, or product
Idea
• thought or collection of thoughts that generate in the mind
• generated with intent, but can also be created unintentionally
• form during brainstorming sessions, or discussions

Innovation is the creation, development and implementation of a new product, process or

service, with the aim of improving efficiency, effectiveness or competitive advantage.
• Innovation is the successful exploitation of new ideas.
• process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value
or for which customers will pay
• to be called an innovation, an idea must be replicable at an economical cost and
must satisfy a specific need
• involves deliberate application of information, imagination and initiative in deriving
greater or different values from resources, and includes all processes by which new
ideas are generated and converted into useful products
• In business, innovation often results when ideas are applied by the company in
order to further satisfy the needs and expectations of the customers
• Imitators take less risk because they will start with an innovator's product and take
a more effective approach. Examples are IBM with its PC against Apple Computer,
Compaq with its cheaper PC's against IBM, and Dell with its still-cheaper clones
against Compaq
Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/innovation.html

Design Thinking Incorporates a Five – Step Process:

• Empathize
• Define
• Ideate
• Prototype
• Test
4 Reasons Why You Need to Focus on Innovation according to Tregold (2017)
1. Grow in Leaps and Bounds
• companies that innovate are able to scale up and add more employees that allows
them to take on more customers and grab a bigger share of the market
• it’s easy for innovative companies to grow
2. Stand Out from Competitors
• the right innovation will allow you to offer something unique to your customers
• top innovators take popular products and make them even better, that makes
brands stand out in the market and increase revenue
• for example, ton of companies also manufacture light bulbs, and you need to stand
out in the same way, what if you managed to create a light bulb that automatically
turned off when people left the room?
3. Meet Customer Needs
• customer needs are constantly changing
• innovators predict changes in the market and provide solutions before people even
realize they need them
• if you remain stagnant, your business will eventually flounder
• come up with new ideas that excite your customers and meet their needs to have
this ‘staying power’
4. Attract the Best Talent
• if you are talented, you need to work in an innovative company
• you aren’t going to attract someone who is going to create the next big thing unless
your company has a history of creating
• innovators want to be challenged and encouraged to create on a regular basis, so
you need a culture of innovation to recruit that talent
• make name for your company by being innovative

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Products vs Services
• product is a tangible item that is put on the market for acquisition, attention, or
consumption
• service is an intangible item, which arises from the output of one or more
individuals
• SERVICE is an action that a person does for someone else
• for example Goods are items you buy, such as food, clothing, toys, furniture, and
toothpaste, Services are actions such as haircuts, medical check-ups, mail delivery,
car repair, and teaching, Goods are tangible objects that satisfy people's wants
• when a consumer buys a car, the product comes with a lot of other service
responsibilities, such as tune-up and maintenance
Tangible vs. Intangible
• Assessing the quality of a tangible product is very easy, since most products are
countable, touchable, and visible, a consumer can assess its durability by examining
it
• A good case in point is when an individual is buying a home, the buyer will check
every nook and cranny of the house, including the attic, basement, foundation, each
individual room, and more.
• In contrast, a service is not something that one can feel or try out before paying for
it. Say an individual needs a professional inspector to identify any hidden issues
before deciding to purchase a home. Just how experienced is the inspector with
regard to plumbing, roofing, and other structural matters?
• the client lacks sufficient knowledge about the inspector’s expertise until the task is
already in progress. The customer can read online reviews, ask for the inspector’s
credentials, as well as before and after pictures of his previous work, but there’s no
definite way of evaluating the quality of a service until it’s rendered.

Production vs. Interaction

• A potential car buyer usually checks the car’s body lines, feels the leather used on
the seats, and takes the car for a test drive before deciding whether to buy the car
or not. Since it’s a product, the buyer is aware of the specific production line the
vehicle hails from, and there are many more like it. In fact, there are other cars
identical to the one being bought.
• But what about the service the car buyer receives from the car dealer? The way a
car salesperson interacts with one buyer is not the same way he interacts with
another buyer. If the car buyer is lucky, he may find a salesperson who is well-
informed, courteous, and is willing to negotiate. If he’s not, the car salesperson
might be one who lacks information or behaves in a nonchalant way.

Perishable vs. Imperishable

• The best way to illustrate perishable products is to consider a restaurant owner. If
such an individual does not understand the concept of spoilage and waste
reduction, he risks ruining his business since most fresh foods spoil within a few
days. Another example is technology. Even some intangible products like software
become obsolete at some point. Imperishable products include items like jewelry
and automobile parts.
• Services can be described as perishable but not imperishable. A perishable service
simply means that it’s short-lived. Ideally, such a service is consumed as soon as it
is produced. Unlike products, the service cannot be stored for later use.
• Perishable services are such as airline flights, auto repair, theater entertainment,
and manicures. If an individual purchases an air ticket for a particular day, and then
he suffers a cold and is not able to travel, the ticket expires. The perishable attribute
of some services makes it hard to balance supply and demand.
Time to Shine
Discuss the following points in design thinking and cite situations:
• Empathize
• Define
• Ideate
• Prototype
• Test

References:
Amante, A. and Ronquillo, T. (2017). Technopreneurship as an Outcomes–Based Education
Tool Applied in Some Engineering and Computing Science Programs. Autralian Association
for Engineering Education 2016. 1-10. DOI: 10.1080/22054952.2017.134818

Banatao, D. P. (2015). Views on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. International Research

Journal on Innovations in Engineering, Science and Technology, 1(2), 1–6.

Innovation. (n.d.). Retrieved August 2020 from

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/innovation.html

Products and Services. (n.d.). Retrieved August 2020 from

https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/other/products-and-
services/#:~:text=What%20are%20Products%20and%20Services,of%20one%20or%20mor
e%20individuals

Sokolova, S. (2015). The Importance of Creativity and Innovation in Business. Retrieved

September 1, 2020 from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/importance-creativity-
innovation-business-siyana-sokolova

Tredgold, G. (2017). Four Reasons Why You Need to Focus on Innovation. Retrieved
September 1, 2020 from https://www.inc.com/gordon-tredgold/ 4-reassons-why-you-
need-to-focus-on-innovation.html