Critical Success Factors for Entrepreneurs Research Paper

Abstract

The research is dedicated to the problem of critical success factors in entrepreneurship. Since small and medium enterprises are crucial for the economics of many countries, the study of factors which can improve their performance. Previous investigations prove that there is a diversity of factors which have both positive and negative effect on business performance and lead to success or failure. Different researches define financial needs, marketing actions, continued innovation, and efforts directed on the provision of sustainability contribute to the success of the entrepreneurial activity.

Also, the importance of their dedication to work, time spent on business, and efforts made by entrepreneurs are mentioned both by earlier investigations and the respondents of the current research. However, the limited sample and the fact that all respondents come from the same country do not allow to generalize the results of the current research. Still, the study proves that CSF is generally significant for small and medium enterprises, and in the diversity of forms they contribute to better performance leading to the companies’ success. At the same time, the neglect of CSF can lead to the failure of an enterprise on the market.

Introduction

Entrepreneurship is a popular research subject in the sphere of management and economics. Every business initiative is a venture and involvement in entrepreneurial activity has many challenges that an entrepreneur will face. It is difficult to predict the development of a business. Still, there are only two possible outcomes of any new venture, success, and failure (Ha et al., 2014). According to Ha et al. (2014), the main challenges which international entrepreneurs face, are “internal factors such as cash management, cash flow, sales and marketing, fierce competition, founders’ vision and external factors like political instability, economic pressure, interest rate environment, ever-changing consumer behavior and rapid technological change” (p. 116).

Small and medium entrepreneurship (SMEs) are commonly considered to be the basis of the economy because they contribute to economic stability and growth. Moreover, they improve employment rates and create new jobs thus supporting “social cohesion and development” (Hyder & Lussier, 2016, p. 82).

Thus, it can be concluded that the high performance of SMEs has a positive impact on the economy in general. Consequently, the issue of entrepreneurial success factors is a significant problem because identification of these factors and their implementation by entrepreneurs is likely to increase the performance of the entrepreneurial activity and thus provide a cushion to economic shock (Hyder & Lussier, 2016). This paper aims to analyze critical success factors for entrepreneurs and the causes of failures. This investigation can contribute to the development of education programs for entrepreneurs.

The motivation for the Topic Selection

The choice of the topic related to the issue of critical success factors for entrepreneurs was prompted by some considerations. First of all, I already have a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurial studies, and I am aware that not all star-ups in entrepreneurship become successful due to diverse factors. Secondly, I come from a family of entrepreneurs. Both my father and grandfather are involved in entrepreneurial activities. Finally, I currently own several businesses myself. Consequently, I am interested in investigating the set of reasons which can lead entrepreneurs to success or determine their failure. Thus, my interest in the issue of CSF is not only theoretical and the findings of the current research will have a practical application.

Research Design

It is qualitative research which comprises two major stages. During the first stage, a literature review is conducted. The studies dedicated to the issue of critical success factors for entrepreneurs and possible reasons for failures were selected and analyzed. The analysis of literature included both qualitative and quantitative research articles issued within the last five years. The second stage of the research is a survey questionnaire distributed among the local entrepreneurs (see Appendix A). They shared their experiences of successes or failures in entrepreneurial activity and attempted to explain the role of CSF in their ventures.

Literature Review

The issue of CSF for entrepreneurs has been a problem for many investigations. For example, Lafuente, Lafuente, Guzman-Parra, and Lafuente (2013) study key factors for entrepreneurial success. The authors aim to study the incidence between the factors used by business promoters and the success of new business development. Their research is based on a questionnaire answered by the founders of Spanish startups for the period from 2006 to 2010. The research proved that such factors as financial needs, marketing actions, continued innovation, and efforts directed on the provision of sustainability contribute to the success of entrepreneurial activity (Lafuente et al., 2013).

Alani Lawal, Worlu, and Ayoade (2016) stress the importance of CSF for sustainable entrepreneurship in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The researchers define sustainable entrepreneurs as “those enterprises that support sustainable development by ensuring that businesses are done sustainably” (Alani Lawal et al., 2016, p. 340). The authors study entrepreneurship theories and define such determinants of sustainable entrepreneurship as attitudinal and perceptual factors; sector, ownership, and innovative orientation of a company; personality, management skills, environment, and motivation impacts; different types of support including governmental; and financial, infrastructure, economic, and environmental challenges (Alani Lawal et al., 2016).

The research includes an analysis of SMEs in Nigeria and challenges for their activity. The authors concluded that sustainable development of an enterprise and its success depends on such factors as “attitudinal and perceptual, firm size, sector, ownership, innovative orientation, personality, management skills, motivation, infrastructure, working capital management, and access to finance” (Alani Lawal et al., 2016, p. 344).

Lo, Wang, Wah, and Ramayah (2016) focus on the organizational performance of SMEs and study the related critical success factors. Their findings include that the success factors for SMEs include technology and entrepreneurial orientations. These factors contribute to both, financial and non-financial performance. Also, the support of top management proved to be a significant factor that had a positive impact on the financial performance of SMEs under analysis. Nevertheless, the research did not prove any positive influence of customer focus or employee orientation on the performance of SMEs (Lo et al., 2016).

Hoyos-Ruperto, Romaguera, Carlsson, and Lyytinen (2013) add networking as another critical success factor for entrepreneurship. The researchers study both systemic and individual factors as sources of entrepreneurial success as well as the impact of individual social networking and inter-organization networking. The findings of the study are that systemic factors such as “entrepreneurial opportunities, national mindset toward entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial education” do not have significant power to influence the entrepreneurial success (Hoyos-Ruperto et al., 2013, p. 65).

At the same time, such individual factors as social competence of the entrepreneur, according to the research findings, can stimulate individual social networking activities. As for the role of networking, the research findings are as follows. First of all, individual social networks negatively influence entrepreneurial success, secondly, the research revealed an indirect relationship between social competence and entrepreneurial success through INETW individual social network activities (Hoyos-Ruperto et al., 2013).

Ha et al. (2014) dedicate their research to the peculiarities of success factors for entrepreneurship in Thailand. The researchers developed the casual relationship framework which allowed to compare the effect of diverse factors influencing the success of entrepreneurs. Both literature review and face-to-face interviews were used to elicit data. The research revealed that SME entrepreneurs believed that the most important factors affecting their success were “the time for work, the position of the organization’s leader, passion, effort, intention and carefulness” (Ha et al., 2014, p, 119).

The other research dedicated to the issue of critical success factors studies the prevalence of these factors among Ghanaian contractors (Ofori-Kuragu, Baiden, & Badu, 2014). The research revealed eight important CSFs important for Ghanaian contractors. These factors include “quality and zero defects culture, organizational design, work culture, and work environment, client satisfaction, strategy, leadership, measurement, analysis of information and knowledge management and implementation of lean principles” (Ofori-Kuragu et al., 2014, p. 843). The research has practical value because it presents a set of criteria that can be recommended for inexperienced contractors on their way to success.

However, together with factors contributing to an entrepreneur’s success, there are those which hurt the development of business. The comparative analysis of the possible reasons for the failure of SMEs is provided by Mihajlović, Nicolić, Dhamo, Schulte, and Kume (2015). The analysis of data obtained through questionnaire from 130 entrepreneurs showed that the major factors considered to hurt business and causing failure include political, economic, social, technological, ecological, and legislative issues (Mihajlović et al., 2015). However, usually failure was caused by a complex of factors.

Another research that analyses the failure experiences in entrepreneurship also provides the possible causes of these failures and learning outcomes which can be useful for avoiding negative business experiences in the future (Atsan, 2016). First of all, the author defines failure as “deviation from expected and desired result” which is a broader definition than the previously accepted comparison of an entrepreneur’s failure to bankruptcy (Atsan, 2016, p. 436).

Face-to-face interviews with entrepreneurs who failed in business but started new ventures revealed the fact that the participants believed that both internal and external factors contributed to their failure. Internal factors comprise the entrepreneurial and organizational causes of failure. These factors were usually associated with relations with partners, financial skills, and the lack of critical information. External reasons for entrepreneurial failures included economic condition, alteration of governmental policies, and unpredictable negative events (Atsan, 2016).

Speaking about bigger enterprises, critical success factors are also important although different from those typical of small and medium entrepreneurship. For example, then research by Fritzenschaft (2013) revealed such factors as support and commitment of the management which is critical for big, usually international corporations. Also, the researcher defines critical success factors for change processes which are the integral components of any big business and a necessary step in their development.

Thus, such CSFs as the analysis and understanding of the environment, creation of shared problem awareness, determination of competences and responsibilities, active involvement of employees in executing the change, the support of employees through providing seminars, training courses, and business forums are mentioned as factors necessary for success (Fritzenschaft, 2013).

Data Collection

The empirical data for this research were obtained through a questionnaire that was developed to study the opinion about the most critical success factors (see Appendix A for questionnaire form). The questionnaire for this research was spread among ten local Kuwait entrepreneurs. Five of them returned completed questionnaires. The following summary is based on their answers.

Success Factors for Local Entrepreneurs

The respondent provided diverse success factors they believe are important for making business in general and in Kuwait in particular (the detailed answers can be found in Appendix B). Thus, one of the entrepreneurs claims it is necessary to be hardworking, patient, and persistent. He supposes that Kuwaitis entrepreneurs similar to him get bored quickly, after a couple of years of managing their business. Consequently, this respondent believes that the performance of his business depends on his “entrepreneurial drive.” Another respondent claims that effective publicity after the business started is crucial for its success.

Also, one interviewee mentioned that leadership skills are vital to be able to lead not only the employees but also the market as a whole. The ability to deliver the key messages and approaches to the employees in a local theme is also a challenge for entrepreneurs. One more interviewee mentioned determination and hard work as critical success factors. He states that it is important to focus on what the person is doing and give the business all time and energy. Finally, another research participant mentioned the necessity to understand the consumer behavior specific to the location in which the entrepreneur operates, and understand how to reach the target audience through effective marketing strategies.

Possessing Success Factors

The interviewed entrepreneurs were supposed to list the success factors which they possess. Thus, they mentioned such success factors as hard work, being a team player, creativity, and being ambitious. Some respondents provided more extended answers. Thus, one of the interviewees states that he possesses such a success factor as community outreach and the ability to take the extra step in handling the customers. For example, he and his company are involved in all events organized in their community.

This approach builds good relationships with customers thus contributing to the success of the entrepreneur. Another respondent claims that one of the success factors he possesses is being a proactive entrepreneur, with many connections that helped him sufficiently in establishing the business and maintaining its sustainable development. Also, this interviewee makes attempts to adapt international business concepts earlier that his competitors in Kuwait. He travels much and absorbs international business experiences for their further implementation in his native country. It allows us to exceed the customer’s expectations and surprise them.

One more participant mentions his long experience and practice in entrepreneurship, which enabled him to expand his knowledge and constantly develop the methods of managing his business and helping his clients. Finally, being an employee in a social media agency for 6 years, which improved the marketing skills in general and in social media, in particular, was mentioned as another success factor. This experience helped the interviewee in managing his online business.

Influence of CSF on Business

The final question of the interview asked for opinions about the success or failure of companies under the leadership of the research participants. They were supposed to comment on their success or failure as related to the ideas of CSF, evaluate the impact of CSF on their local business, and think is their success or failure was the result of following or neglecting CSF. The respondents agree that CSF substantially influences the development of their business and its outcomes.

One of the respondents claims that he managed to succeed due to following CSF during the first year of his entrepreneurial activity. However, further neglect of CSF led to the failure of the business. One of the interviewees states it is too early to evaluate the development of his business because it is new. Still, the entrepreneur believes they can be successful in case they maintain the level of service and product quality they offer now. He also speaks about corporate social responsibility as a key success factor in keeping entrepreneurs and their companies aligned with the community, which is another necessary condition of success.

One more respondent also mentions the particular importance of following entrepreneurial CSF to be successful and supposes that not doing so will probably fail. However, this respondent did not provide any specific examples from his practice. Another interviewee shares his experience and tells that his business was unsuccessful because he did not elaborate on any creative ways to sell his business idea. This led to the loss in sales and eventually a decline in quality due to a lack of motivation to provide top-level service. Also, the wide outreach was not fulfilled because his company was focused on office employees only, and their products were seasonal.

One of the research participants claims that his business manages to succeed due to his support for all the counselors who work with him and constant guidance as well as getting training all the time to develop the abilities of the employees. The last entrepreneur involved in the research mentions that the company became successful due to the dedication of his time, effort, and focus as well as constant updates of the company offer and maintenance of good relationships with customers.

Analysis of Literature and Research Data

Summarizing the previous investigations, it can be concluded that the majority of sources focus on the importance of CSF for entrepreneurs. The research by Lafuente et al. (2013). proved that such factors as financial needs, marketing actions, continued innovation, and efforts directed on the provision of sustainability contribute to the success of the entrepreneurial activity. However, the research participants mentioned only some marketing actions as factors for success.

Similarly to Alani Lawal et al. (2016), the respondents mention personal dedication and attitudes to business and management skills as success factors. Although Lo et al. (2016) did not find a direct impact of customers’ focus on the success of the entrepreneurial activity, the research participants include attention to customers as a necessary factor of success. One of the respondents mentioned his social media agency experience as a factor that helped him in the development of managing an online business.

His ideas correspond to the research findings of Hoyos-Ruperto et al. (2013) who found out that the social competence of the entrepreneur can stimulate individual social networking activities. Most of the respondents mention the importance of their dedication to work, the time they spend on business, and the effort they make to be significant for the success of a company. these ideas correlate with the findings of the investigation by Ha et al. (2014) who found out that the most important factors affecting the success of business initiative include time for work, the position of the organization’s leader, passion, effort, intention, and carefulness.

On the whole, the data obtained from the questionnaires are diverse due to the diversity of businesses run by the entrepreneurs involved in the research. Thus, the respondents run an online gifts store, a marriage counseling service company, an international fusion restaurant, a café, and an accessories shop. Their answers reflect their attitudes to the businesses they started.

Summarizing the previous investigations, it can be concluded that the majority of sources focus on the importance of CSF for entrepreneurs. The research by Lafuente et al. (2013). proved that such factors as financial needs, marketing actions, continued innovation, and efforts directed on the provision of sustainability contribute to the success of the entrepreneurial activity. However, the research participants mentioned only some marketing actions as factors for success.

Similarly to Alani Lawal et al. (2016), the respondents mention personal dedication and attitudes to business and management skills as success factors. Although Lo et al. (2016) did not find a direct impact of customers’ focus on the success of the entrepreneurial activity, the research participants include attention to customers as a necessary factor of success. One of the respondents mentioned his social media agency experience as a factor that helped him in the development of managing an online business. His ideas correspond to the research findings of Hoyos-Ruperto et al. (2013) who found out that the social competence of the entrepreneur can stimulate individual social networking activities.

Most of the respondents mention the importance of their dedication to work, the time they spend on business, and the effort they make to be significant for the success of a company. these ideas correlate with the findings of the investigation by Ha et al. (2014) who found out that the most important factors affecting the success of business initiative include time for work, the position of the organization’s leader, passion, effort, intention, and carefulness. On the whole, the data obtained from the questionnaires are diverse due to the diversity of businesses run by the entrepreneurs involved in the research. Thus, the respondents run an online gifts store, a marriage counseling service company, an international fusion restaurant, a café, and an accessories shop. Their answers reflect their attitudes to the businesses they started.

Research Limitations

Even though the research findings support the ideas of previous studies about the importance of critical success factors for entrepreneurial activity, this work has certain limitations. The first limitation is related to the small sample involved in the research. About half of the entrepreneurs invited to participate and answer a questionnaire returned them with answers. Consequently, there is no opportunity to provide a deep analysis because the answers are diverse and cannot be used for developing any interventions for business improvement. Moreover, the small sample does not allow any statistical analysis, and this research is only qualitative.

The second limitation is the fact that the respondents involved in the study represent different areas of business. Consequently, there is no opportunity to generalize the results. Finally, all the respondents are Kuwaiti business people. Thus, there the research findings could be different in another cultural environment because the location also influenced the peculiarities of business performance.

Implications for Further Research

The study has some implications for further research. First of all, the research can be conducted with the involvement of a bigger sample to make the results more reliable. This research plan can be improved by introducing more participants. This approach is likely to provide the research with enough data for analysis in case some participants do not return questionnaires. Moreover, a bigger sample will add validity to the research findings. The second implication for further research is the use of a changed questionnaire.

It will be useful to add some close-ended questions and include some points the participants could rate. It will allow the use of statistical tools to analyze the obtained data and also add to the reliability and validity of the research. Finally, it is possible to include a comparative component of the research. For example, the entrepreneurs can be selected among the representatives of two different spheres of business such as sales and service providers. It can be a useful approach because critical success factors are likely to differ in diverse spheres of entrepreneurial activity.

Conclusions

On the whole, entrepreneurial activity is a significant sphere in the economy of every country. The successes and failures of small and medium entrepreneurs depend on the current state of the country’s economy and determine its development at the same time. Every business initiative is a venture and involvement in entrepreneurial activity has many challenges that entrepreneurs face. The selected strategies of leading a business have two possible outcomes, success or failure. To avoid failure and stimulate the successful development of an enterprise, the entrepreneurs apply a diversity of critical success factors that influence their businesses and allow them to control the state of things.

Thus, the issue of entrepreneurial success factors is a significant problem because identification of these factors and their implementation by entrepreneurs is likely to increase the performance of the entrepreneurial activity and thus provide a cushion to an economic shock. The investigation of the critical success and failure factors revealed the following results. Among the factors that contribute to the success of the entrepreneurial activity, there are financial needs, marketing actions, continued innovation, and efforts directed on the provision of sustainability.

Moreover, the research findings proved that dedication to work, time spent on business, and efforts made by entrepreneurs are significant because these factors were mentioned both by previous researchers and the respondents of the current study. On the whole, it can be concluded that critical success factors are generally significant for small and medium enterprises, and in the diversity of forms, they contribute to better performance leading to the companies’ success.

At the same time, the lack of attention to success factors is likely to fail in an enterprise on the market. However, further investigation is necessary to provide higher validity and reliability of the research findings because the limited sample does not allow to generalize the results. The results of more detailed research can become a basis for the development of education programs for entrepreneurs to stimulate the use of CSF and thus contribute to their better performance.

References

Alani Lawal, F., Worlu, R., & Ayoade, O. (2016). Critical success factors for sustainable entrepreneurship in SMEs: Nigerian perspective. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 7(3), 338-348. Web.

Atsan, N. (2016). Failure experiences of entrepreneurs: Causes and learning outcomes. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 235, 435-442. Web.

Fritzenschaft, T. (2013). Critical success factors of change management: An empirical research in German small and medium-sized enterprises. Berlin, Germany: Springer.

Ha, M., Siriwan, U., Ramabut, C., Thitikalaya, N., Thitikanlaya, T., & Kiatnarong, C. (2014). Key factors for successful entrepreneurship in Thailand. Open Journal of Social sciences, 2, 116-121. Web.

Hoyos-Ruperto, M., Romaguera, J. M., Carlsson, B., & Lyytinen, K. (2013). Networking: A critical success factor for entrepreneurship. American Journal of Management, 13(2), 55-72.

Hyder, S., & Lussier, R. (2016). Why businesses succeed or fail: A study on small businesses in Pakistan. Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies, 8(1), 82-100. Web.

Lafuente, F. J., Lafuente, A. M., Guzman-Parra, V. F., & Lafuente, J. G. (2013). Key factors for entrepreneurial success. Management Decisions, 51(10), 1932-1944. Web.

Lo, M. C., Wang, Y. C., Wah, R. J., & Ramayah, T. (2016). The critical success factors for organizational performance of SMEs in Malaysia: a partial least squares approach. Review of Business Management, 18(61), 370-391. We

Mihajlović, I., Nicolić, N., Dhamo, Z., Schulte, P., & Kume, V. (2015). The reasons for SME’s failure, comparative analysis and research. In FIKUSZ ’15 Symposium for Young Researchers Proceedings, 7-22. Budapest: Obuda University.

Ofori-Kuragu, J. K., Baiden, B., & Badu, E. (2014). Critical success factors for Ghanaian contractors. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 23(4), 768-791.

Appendix A

Entrepreneurial Critical Success Factors (CSF)

1. Please give a brief description of your company.
2. Explain what you think are the most critical and most important key success factors that local entrepreneurs in Kuwait must have in order to be successful.
3. Which factors do you think you possess as an entrepreneur?
4. Explain in your own words why you think your company was successful/unsuccessful under your leadership. (Below are some ideas you can think about when writing your answer)
   1. Does your success/failure reflect the idea of CSF.
   2. How much do you think CSF affected the outcome of your local business.
   3. Was your success or failure a result of following or neglecting CSF when operating your business.
5. Final Thoughts (Optional).

Appendix B

Respondent 1

• Please give a brief description of your company
  • We sell a variety of accessories, sunglasses and snapback caps. We mostly targeted young adults and adolescents. Ages range from 15-29
• Explain what you think are the most critical and most important key success factors that local entrepreneurs in Kuwait must have in order to be successful
  • Be hardworking, patient, and persistent. I think Kuwaitis such as myself tend to get bored after a year or two of managing their business. As a result, performance goes does as does my entrepreneurial drive.
• Which factors do you think you possess as an entrepreneur?
  • Hard working
  • Team player.
  • Creative
  • Ambitious
• Explain in your own words why you think your company was successful/unsuccessful under your leadership. (Below are some ideas you can think about when writing your answer)
  • Does your success/failure reflect the idea of CSF.
    • Somewhat, my idea lacked an overall team effort from my partners, and eventually we all lost our drive trying to keep the business running. We basically weren’t persistent and got bored.
    • How much do you think CSF affected the outcome of your local business.
    • Substantially.
    • Was your success or failure a result of following or neglecting CSF when operating your business
  • My success was following CSF during the first year or so but we failed to continue our business by neglecting CSF which in turn burnt us out.
• Final Thoughts:
  • I think it’s especially important to follow entrepreneurial CSF in order to be successful; not doing so will probably end in failure

Respondent 2

• Please give a brief description of your company
  • Karak House, is a cafe/restaurant that offers Mainly Karak (Tea & Milk) which is a very popular drink in the gulf region, as well as India & Sri Lanka, along with Sandwiches prepared with Chapati bread that is also a very favorable kind of bread in the same region. Many other dishes and salads were offered in the same place. The restaurant was located in the heart of Kuwait city, in a very busy area where mostly offices and companies are around.
• Explain what you think are the most critical and most important key success factors that local entrepreneurs in Kuwait must have in order to be successful
  • Local entrepreneurs in Kuwait should have a wide outreach through word of mouth and not depend on small audience as their main target audience. In addition, effective publicity since opening is very crucial for the success of the business.
• Which factors do you think you possess as an entrepreneur?
  • Community Outreach and going the extra step in handling our customers. E.g, we used to be involved in all events going on in our community which built a good relationship with our customers.
• Explain in your own words why you think your company was successful/unsuccessful under your leadership. (Below are some ideas you can think about when writing your answer)
  • Does your success/failure reflect the idea of CSF.
  • How much do you think CSF affected the outcome of your local business.
  • Was your success or failure a result of following or neglecting CSF when operating your business
    • My business was unsuccessful; I felt that I did not find creative ways to sell my business idea properly. This lead to loss in sales and eventually a decline in quality due to lack of motivation to provide top level service. In addition, the wide outreach was not done properly as we were focusing on only office employees, and our products were seasonal that suit only the winter season and weather.
• Final Thoughts (Optional)(blank)

Respondent 3

• Please give a brief description of your company:
  • The Public is an international fusion restaurant in the heart of the business area of Kuwait city that offers a wide variety of healthier alternative for the most desired dishes in every other restaurant. The atmosphere of the restaurant is urban that suits young spirits’ fast life style.
• Explain what you think are the most critical and most important key success factors that local entrepreneurs in Kuwait must have in order to be successful:
  • Leadership skills are vital in order to be able to lead not only your employees, but also the market. In addition, being able to deliver your key messages and approaches in a local theme is also a challenge.
• Which factors do you think you possess as an entrepreneur?
  • I am a proactive entrepreneur, with many connections that helped me a lot in establishing this business and maintain it. I also try as much as I can to adapt international concepts before anyone else in Kuwait, by traveling a lot and get what Kuwait lacks, which makes me exceed my customer’s expectations and always surprise them.
• Explain in your own words why you think your company was successful/unsuccessful under your leadership. (Below are some ideas you can think about when writing your answer
  • Does your success/failure reflect the idea of CSF.
  • How much do you think CSF affected the outcome of your local business.
  • Was your success or failure a result of following or neglecting CSF when operating your business

I cannot judge my business yet, since it is considerably new, yet I can say we can be successful if we maintained the level of service and product quality we offer. CSR is also a key success factor in keeping us aligned with our community that we cannot succeed without!

Respondent 4

• Please give a brief description of your company:
  • Nadia Al Bin Ali company is marriage counseling service company. We do not have an actual location, yet we make appointments with our clients through phone calls or emails and meet them in cafes. Our clients are mostly young newly weds who face issues in the begging of their life together and need guidance to survive, and thank God they mostly do.
• Explain what you think are the most critical and most important key success factors that local entrepreneurs in Kuwait must have in order to be successful
  • Determination and hard work. Focus on what you are doing, give your business all your time and energy.
• Which factors do you think you possess as an entrepreneur?
  • My long experience and practice in this field enabled me in expanding my knowledge and constantly develop my methods in managing this business and help my clients.
• Explain in your own words why you think your company was successful/unsuccessful under your leadership. (Below are some ideas you can think about when writing your answer):
  • Does your success/failure reflect the idea of CSF.
  • How much do you think CSF affected the outcome of your local business.
  • Was your success or failure a result of following or neglecting CSF when operating your business.

My support for all the counselors who work with me, constant guidance as well as getting training all the time to develop our abilities is what is helping as succeed. Word of mouth is also a main reason why more clients are approaching us, since their friend’s and family’s experiences is the best prove we are good in what we do.

Respondent 5

• Please give a brief description of your company:
  • Gifted is an online gifts store, that offers a wide variety of gifts for different occasions. Gifted was established by Mariam Dashti in 2016, and celebrated their first anniversary recently with a 13K followers and loyal customers on Instagram.
• Explain what you think are the most critical and most important key success factors that local entrepreneurs in Kuwait must have in order to be successful:
  • You need to understand the consumer behavior in the place you operate in as well as understand how to reach them through effective marketing.
• Which factors do you think you possess as an entrepreneur?
  • Being an employee in a social media agency for 6 years, this improved my marketing skills specially in social media, which helped me in managing this online business.
• Explain in your own words why you think your company was successful/unsuccessful under your leadership. (Below are some ideas you can think about when writing your answer):
  • Giving my time, effort and focus as well as always renewing my offerings and maintining good relationships with customers I do not know made the company successful.