Introduction
Creating the realm of global economy has set new challenges for not only running a business, but merely starting it. The necessity to not only define the key goals of the company, but also locate the strategies allowing for attaining these goals in the environment of harsh competition and rather hostile economic factors, which the global market is defined by, has predetermined the need for a firm to cling to every opportunity and develop the strategy that allows for a continuous pursuit of the one.
Though the phenomena of pursuit, opportunity and going beyond resources controlled are traditionally defined in a rather narrow manner within the specified context, they can be analyzed on a larger scale and considered a part and parcel of the overall design of an organization.
Definition of Pursuit
Perhaps, one of the most easily identifiable concepts of the three, the phenomenon of pursuit can be interpreted as the endeavor of attaining a specific goal or a set of objectives. Defining it as a consistent focus seems a reasonable choice; however, in contrast to the latter, pursuit may alter depending on the needs that an organization must meet, as well as the result that the company in question strives to attain to.
Consequently, while focus is typically viewed as a fixed goal, the achievement of which terminates the process of growth, the phenomenon of pursuit, which is adopted in entrepreneurship, is an unceasing movement forwards. Therefore, it will be more pertinent to describe the concept in question as the process of adapting towards the changing environment in order to gain the maximum profit and get the best of the situation that can be observed in the target market.
In other words, the common definition of pursuit as the goal that needs to be achieved, while being right, lacks precision. Pursuit is only possible when the strategies used by the company to evolve are altered in accordance with the changes that the market environment suffers.
It is also quite peculiar that in modern business terms, the term of pursuit is not defined on its own merits – quite on the contrary, it is placed in a specific context in most cases so that its nature could be located in the most precise manner. For instance, Annacchino (2011) links the phenomenon of pursuit directly to the idea of innovativeness and product development, therefore, making a rather big leap and drawing parallels between pursuit and the idea of going “beyond resources controlled” discussed below.
In other words, Annacchino (2011) draws parallels between the chase that pursuit presupposes and the actual goals that the above-mentioned pursuit is designed for (Annacchino 2011). Moreover, according to the researcher, there is an obvious link between the phenomenon of pursuit and the idea of product management:
The business development manager’s role is to nurture the business. The product manager is the focal point of responsibility for the corporation, advocate for the customer, and architect of the product and business model. Accordingly, the responsibility resides with the team and its leader for a successful product run that repays its development costs and generates profitable revenues for the organization. (Annacchino 2011, p. 457)
Other researchers tend to define pursuit as the ubiquitous air of progress that the entire organization must be shot through with so that the further progress could be facilitated. For instance, Corfe puts a very strong emphasis on what he defines as the pursuit of business; according to the researcher, the specified term can be interpreted as “the pursuit of the following objectives, being the maximizing from every aspect of: a) Efficiency; b) Market share; and c) Productive profits” (Corfe 2008, p. 113).
Definition for Opportunity
Locating the proper means of rendering the concept of opportunity in business is not an easy task, as it challenges the person defining it to nail down what defines the success of a business venture.
The phenomenon of an entrepreneurial triumph, in its turn, is a very complex notion that presupposes the incorporation of economic, financial, social and even political factors into the analysis; therefore, the idea of an opportunity in the contemporary globalized economy seems far too ubiquitous to define it properly (Kim & Mauborgne 2013).
The concept of innovation, which is often suggested as a manner of defining the subject matter, seems to be the closest to the truth; however, even the idea of innovation itself, despite its ability to incorporate a variety of phenomena and concepts, still seems far too commonplace a definition.
It is not only the innovation that provides a business venture with an opportunity for a good start and gives a chance for the company to become recognizable, but the combination of the aforementioned chance, proper timing, adequate environment and a consistent effort that makes a company successful (Kim & Mauborgne 2013).
Therefore, it would be wrong to claim that the concept of opportunity related directly to innovation; instead, it hinges of the ability of the company leader to use the resources that are currently at their disposal in order to design the product or tool that will satisfy the needs of the customers and preferably fill in a certain niche.
In fact, a range of studies show that the product or tool in question does not have to break new grounds in the designated field – instead, it should merely point at the avenues that lead to the best outcomes for the company and allow for the further development of the business in question (Kim & Mauborgne 2013).
“Beyond Resources Controlled” as a Concept
The definition of opportunity provided above mentioned the allocation of the existing resources at some point, which links the specified concept to the phenomenon known as “beyond resources controlled.” A seemingly ambiguous phrase, the aforementioned concept, in fact, serves as the foil for the development of the definition for the phrase “beyond resources controlled.”
Coined by Kakouris and Fullford, the phrase in question traditionally presupposes that the company should think outside the box in terms of the disposal of its resources and be capable of utilizing the specified resources in new and unusual ways (Kakouris & Fullford 2013, p. 37).
Therefore, the definition provided for the concept in question, though obviously correct, does not seem to render the entire palette of meanings that it possesses. Going beyond the resources controlled means being capable of locating the tools and materials that would be considered useless by other organizations in similar circumstances and utilizing these sources in order to avert the possible negative outcomes.
On a more general level, the idea of going beyond the resources controlled may mean not merely locating an unconventional method of using the existing resources (e.g., the human, financial or economic ones), but, instead, discovering new assets of the sources mentioned above and learning to use these assets for the benefit of the company.
To be more specific, mobilizing the resources that an organization has at its disposal may sometimes require the consideration of the way, in which these resources are used. For instance, the company leader may have a wrong idea about how human resources should be used and, therefore, dismisses the concept of investing in human resources for the further development of the company.
Alternatively, the company leader may underestimate the power of the R&D department, viewing it solely as the tool for producing ideas concerning the design and development of the product to be created. Either way, the company’s resources are obviously misused, and their allocation leaves much to be desired.
Though the seemingly promising efficacy of a newly started company may delude the leader, the latter should not flatter themselves with false expectations – in each of the scenarios described above, the company needs a thorough rearrangement of resource disposal strategies (Branson 2012).
Thus, any organization needs to look beyond the traditional usage of specific resources, seeking out new ways of allocating them, arranging and putting them to practice. The ability in question, in fact, can be defined as the skill of pursuing an opportunity in business setting and identifying the opportunities that specific environment has to offer to the company.
The concept of “beyond resources controlled” can be interpreted as pushing the envelope and exploring new ways of utilizing the existing resources; moreover, it may presuppose searching for the new properties of the well known resources and being able to view a certain concept without relating it to the existing stereotypes that are traditionally attributed to it.
Therefore, the interpretation of the phenomenon of going “beyond resources controlled” should be considered as not only the process of locating new resources, but also seeing an opportunity where there seems to be none. In fact, the reconsideration of resources, their use and significance for an organization allows for linking the three concepts, i.e., the phenomenon of exploring the area “beyond resources controlled,” finding a unique opportunity, and pursuing the newly established goals.
Thus, the definitions traditionally provided for the aforementioned concepts seem quite legitimate, though, perhaps, a touch vague.
Conclusion
Though the phenomena of opportunity, pursue of corporate goals, and thinking beyond the resources provided may seem not quite related to each other, and making the link between them may appear to be somewhat farfetched, the three phenomena share a range of points of contact. To be more specific, when viewed as a part and parcel of organizational performance, the three cannot be viewed outside of the context of each other.
More importantly, each of the phenomena under analysis contributes to the understanding of the two remaining; therefore, it can be considered that the concept of going “beyond resources controlled,” the phenomenon of pursuit and the notion of opportunity belong to the same process of propelling an organization to the height of economic performance, facilitating the premises for sustainability within a company.
Reference List
Annacchino, M 2011, The pursuit of new product development: the business development process, Butterworth-Heinemann, Burlington, MA.
Branson, B 2012, 7 Steps to starting a customer focused business: how to generate ideas, find opportunities and plan your business, Bernard Branson Press, New York, NY.
Corfe, R 2008, Social capitalism in theory and practice: prosperity in a stable world, Arena books, Edmunds, UK.
Kakouris, A & Fullford, H 2013, Proceedings of education and learning issues in entrepreneurship workshop, ELIE 2013 Proceedings, Athens, Greece.
Kim, W C & Mauborgne, R 2013, Blue ocean strategy: how to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant, Harvard Business Press, Harvard, MA.