Introduction
The past few years have seen a rapid interest in entrepreneurship that is linked to the fact that small business contributes significantly to economic growth and buoyancy. Many people are also venturing into entrepreneurial careers since there are several economic rewards offered by it compared to larger companies. An entrepreneur is a person who has decided to work for himself or herself. A successful entrepreneur, on the other hand, is a person who initiates change, who has a creative mind and is an inventor (Stokes, Wilson and Mador 16). In short, an entrepreneur in business is someone who thinks of an idea, puts it into practice to earn money, and is willing to take any risk to ensure its success. The concept of entrepreneurship is all about innovation: a person thinks about new forms of organizations, new products, new markets, and new production methods (Scarborough 27).
Why Is Entrepreneurship Important
When innovations create demands, then wealth is created. Thus, the main role of an entrepreneur in business is to combine a number of inputs in a creative manner to produce value to the customer (Boettke 56). The production occurs while an entrepreneur assumes that the value will outdo the price of the inputs. When the cost of the value is higher than that of the input factors, then there is are superior returns. As a result, wealth is created. Steve Jobs managed it with Apple.
To launch any successful business, there has to be an entrepreneur, a person that will see an opportunity on the market and then develop the drive, motivation, and the ability to find resources to reach this opportunity. An entrepreneur has the confidence in being able to take risks and continue doing business, an outstanding example of which is the revolutionary leader of Apple, Steve Jobs (Audretsch and Keilbach 36). He viewed failure as a way of learning, not as a setback. He was able to set distinct goals and targets to ensure that they succeed.
Entrepreneurship is a key element of business management since business requires a visionary with unique ideas. These ideas can be implemented to make a product better, less expensive, make it meet a specific need, or create an entirely new market segment, as was done by Apple. A visionary is an individual that is able to think about something that has never been done before and is flexible enough to adapt to changes that occur in the fast-growing market. People need to embrace different ideas and techniques each day. Entrepreneurial profit will depend on the manager providing productive services that will create profits (Landstrom 68). Furthermore, an entrepreneur is an individual that combines traits of both innovators and managers. Managing the business involves procedures, policies, and making a profit. There is also the managing structure of governance that is important in creating checks and balances to ensure that there is no abuse of power.
Entrepreneurship and Apple
The concept of entrepreneurship related to Apple is ambiguous. On one hand, its former leader was praised for the creation of new jobs for the population (discussed below) and on the other, he had failed to find another visionary that will be able to guide the company in the right direction. However, there are excellent examples of how entrepreneurship influences the business; one such is the 2007 creation of the iPod that opened a possibility for the company to control the prices paid for music. Before this innovation, music was available to all across a variety of illegal and legal resources. The new ethos of Apple that required payment for music was drastically different from the “free for everyone” Web method, although it was a tremendous success (Bessant and Tidd 501).
Further speaking of entrepreneurship, the introduction of the new updated and revamped “post-pc” device known as iPad in 2012 has made a tremendous difference in creating new jobs for the American population and the economy of the U.S. in general (Brownfield par. 3). When a gadget is able to influence changes on such a massive scale, the true entrepreneurship is born. According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, the purpose of creating a new version of an iPad was not attributed to the development of an innovative product, but the creation of a new category. This is a true attribute of an entrepreneurship aspect of Apple – creating not just a product, but a new category of products that also has a positive impact on the economy and creating new jobs for the population.
Conclusion
To conclude, the concept of entrepreneurship is a key element of any successful business. It involves making decisions, being innovative, predicting the future, being independent, and being successful in the end. Each business requires one thing that defines it. It requires one thing that makes it different from the rest as was exemplified by Apple Inc. Entrepreneurs are individuals that are brilliant innovators and can help a business become profitable and dictate new rules and tendencies. The current lack of entrepreneurs at Apple Inc. is a setback to the company and the industry as a whole since the demise of Steve Jobs. However, there is always room for change and improvements. If guided by a strong visionary, Apple will be able to restore what it had lost and started gaining new momentum once again.
Works Cited
Audretsch, David, and Max Keilbach. “Entrepreneurship and Regional Growth: An Evolutionary Interpretation.” Journal of Evolutionary Economics 14.5 (2004): 605-616. Print.
Bessant, John, and Joe Tidd. Innovation and Entrepreneurship. 2nd ed. 2011. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons. Print.
Boettke, Peter. What Role for Entrepreneurship in Economic Development, Oxford University, UK: Hayek Fellow (LSE), 2004. Print.
Brownfield, Mike. Apple, the iPad and Real Entrepreneurship. 2012. Web.
Landstrom, Hans. Pioneers in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research, New York, NY: Springer Publishing, 2007. Print.
Scarborough, Norman. Effective Small Business Management an Entrepreneurial Approach, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2012. Print.
Stokes, David, Nicholas Wilson, and Martha Mador. Entrepreneurship. Boston, Massachusetts: Cengage Learning EMEA, 2010. Print.