Introduction
This paper is an analysis of five important themes in relation to what an entrepreneur is. The five themes include characteristics, socialization, resources, innovation, and failure as what shapes an entrepreneur. The analysis is based on the literature contained in the book “The Eddie Stobart Story.” Several definitions have been proposed by different scholars for the term entrepreneur.
McCoy-Pinderh (2000, p. 1) defines an entrepreneur as an individual who is capable of visualizing a plan and possesses a strong desire to implement changes in his sounding through hard work. The main drive of an entrepreneur is to achieve his set personal and business objectives. This drive makes an entrepreneur restless in general and always looking for opportunity to achieve the change.
Characteristics
Picking out a potential entrepreneur from a group of individuals has always posed a major problem to investors. A number of investors have fallen prey to pretending entrepreneurs and ended up losing their investments. The FACETS approach is often used to describe the salient characteristics for identifying a potential entrepreneur. If such individuals are properly mentored and walked through the business operations process, they can develop very successful enterprises.
The complex nature of human beings makes it difficult to assess their potential accurately; the FACETS approach is significant as a measure to indicate and not to identify one’s exact potential. The process of developing an enterprise from scratch to a multi-million company requires management attributes that are exceptional. A high ego is a fundamental attribute for entrepreneurs. Characteristic attributes such as focus, advantage, and ability to form and work through a team and creativity are central to all successful entrepreneurs. It is an individual’s ego that makes him or her apply the attributes differently from the others.
Entrepreneurs never settle for a given goal, they have a restless ego that keeps pushing them to strive for more. They always look out for new challenges every time they attain a particular goal; they do not sit back to rest on attaining a set goal. Eddie Stobart is described as having a high ego. He was motivated to work on a full-time basis for the sake of his family well being.
After a long time in business, he had almost wound up his venture just before an idea to begin a warehousing business groped up; he took up the business to earn an income to take care of his children (Bolton & Thompson, 2002, p.138). Entrepreneurs have the courage to stand by their beliefs strongly. Eddie Stobart was determined to change the image of the haulage industry that was previously characterized by untidiness by maintaining smart Lorries and drivers. This earned him a fan club in the long run, making his venture more prominent in the process.
Team facet is another significant aspect of entrepreneurs’ characteristics; there are two ways through which teamwork is leverage to an entrepreneur. First, a team of like-minded entrepreneurs can be more successful than an individual entrepreneur. Teamwork multiplies the entrepreneur’s talents enabling them to expand their business faster. Stobart’s’ company grew at a higher rate when he incorporated a management team and stopped taking all key decisions on his own. He had previously spent more time at work for fear of the business collapsing if he left earlier. By appointing a management team, the efficiency of company management improved, leading to increased growth.
Socialization
Socialization is looked at as a process or mechanism of transferring cultural ideals to members of society. Cultural norms of a society are transmitted to new members through various mechanisms, mainly traditions. The value attained by an individual shapes his or her general behavior and attitude in life. Eddie Stobarts’ dynastic struggles to build a multi-million-pound haulage enterprise were motivated by the socialization aspects he went through from childhood. His father used to hire his cart and horse to the Cumberland Council for haulage purposes (Davies, 2009, p.42). Stobart’s’ father played a part in a role model in his life, making him develop into a celebrated businessman in the haulage industry. Childhood role models play an important role in entrepreneurial desires in an individual.
A child can develop entrepreneurial skills and interest if the environment she or he is brought up stimulates the development of such skills. Environmental stimulating factors include; frustrations, challenges, excitements, and desires to control situations. Most Stobart family members struggled with the stammering problem to rise to the level of celebrated business magnates (Davies, 2009, p.53).
They strived to be above the stammering frustration that would rather have held them back from being successful entrepreneurs. Smartness is another aspect that was synonymous with Stobart’s’ enterprises. He maintained smart trucks and drivers, enabling him to develop a fan club. Being smart is an inherent character that one develops from childhood; Stobart positively incorporated this aspect in his enterprise and grew a successful enterprise.
Resources
Enterprise resources include finance and ideas from a business professional. Finance is required for investment and covering the cost of running the enterprise. Resource persons give reliable direction or road map on which the enterprise can successfully be run. Most entrepreneurs start from micro levels, and diligently grow their enterprises through the levels of small, medium to large enterprises. Davies (2009, p. 115) points out that Stobart started the haulage business from an agricultural contracting venture, with only one depot in Carlisle, and developed it to its current level.
Finance is not a limitation to a determined entrepreneur; it is the idea that matters. A viable and competitive business idea will always attract investors. His unique business ethics, such as allowing the drivers to name the trucks after their favorite women and maintaining smart trucks, made him develop a fan club for his business. The fan club was an important tool of marketing his business to potential clients. Marketing is a very critical part of a business enterprise; it is resource-intensive if one does not identify an appropriate strategy. Forming a fan club was an effective and less expensive strategy for Stobart to reach out to many people with his business idea.
Stobart’s’ team was another resource that he leveraged to attain success in the enterprise. He had previously worked on his own taking major decisions individually; his efficiency at this time was insignificant. When he appointed a management team, the company turnover soared in a short time. Resourcing is a differentiating mark between entrepreneurs, having a resource, and understanding how to apply the resource to solve a business problem is a requirement for business success.
Innovation
An entrepreneur must be creative and innovative to survive the generally competitive business environment. Innovative business strategies give an entrepreneur a competitive edge over other businesses. E-commerce has been embraced by many business ventures as a new method of conducting business with ease, faster and accurately. The aim of innovation is to reduce the costs of running a business and increase profit margins.
Innovation also aids entrepreneurs in complying with the ethical business standards set by business regulatory authorities. Stringent measures are in place, for example, regarding the emission of poisonous gases into the air. The laws require limiting the level of emission to the required minimum. Stobart’s’ chose trucks designed to the required carrying capacity and complying with the Euro 4 emissions principles (Davies, 2009, p.46). The branding on the trucks gives the company a unique look, the company prides in having highly trained drivers with the best safety account in the haulage industry.
The company’s other innovation lies in the design of their trucks, which allow for maximum utilization of the truck space. The design also allows the truck to be used for different freight functions. The trucks have cages with removable side retainers that ensure the safety of the load. This allows the load to be converted into pellets quickly without losing load capacity. This type of innovation in the company has helped the company to stay ahead of the competition from other companies operating similar business ventures; the Eddie Stobart Company is unique in every aspect through innovation (Davies, 2009, p. 78).
Incorporating the James Irlam trailers in the Eddie Stobart fleet is seen as a move to improve the efficiency of the company business and reduce the losses from empty mileage. Irlam is already a head in the implementation and use of highly innovative IT services. The company also has an effective training program that is meant to improve technology levels at the Eddie Stobart. GPS tracking is an important technology meant to improve the efficiency of truck management even further.
Failure
When an enterprise is begun, there are usually two expectations, either the enterprise succeeds and makes a profit, or makes loses and goes under. There are higher chances of an enterprise failing than succeeding. Beginning a business venture involves taking a risk; failure is more prevalent at the start-up point than when the company has developed to a large scale. Smart entrepreneurs learn from their previous failures and device mechanisms of avoiding the failure again. It is also important that a company implements a failure tolerance mechanism to cushion it.
Sometimes failure in academics leads people to concentrate on business as venture they can do best to earn a livelihood. Stobart had dropped out of school to assist his father in looking for business for the trucks that were most of the time idle (Davies, 2009, p.23). He learned high business principles on his own without going to school.
Entrepreneurs also thrive from the failures of other business persons in particular industries. Stobart identified failings by operators in the haulage industry, such as lack of proper manners to create a recognizable image for the company. Maintaining a clean image in the haulage industry is not easy even for experts, Stobart was fined for over speeding another court case resulted from the sacking of a driver for failing to obey the drivers’ dress code. His sponsorship for football has also been failing when the team he sponsors does not do well on the field.
Conclusion
Entrepreneurs have unique potential and skills; their character, innovation abilities, socialization, and ability to apply resources to generate wealth is always exceptional. Eddie Stobart is one of the successful business magnates in the haulage industry who developed and applied unique business principles and succeeded. He was creative and well socialized in the manner he interacted with his staff, he the business operations principle fast and on his own, without attending a formal school for business. One can draw the conclusion that entrepreneurs have innate characteristics that make them more successful in business.
The governments play important roles in supporting entrepreneurs by setting policies that protect entrepreneurs from loses and provide a conducive business environment. There is a worldwide call for reducing the number of carbon emissions in the air. Governments signed the Kyoto protocol that requires that countries reduce the amount of emission into the air. The protocol has negatively impacted investors, with a requirement to invest in clean energy.
References
Bolton, K. B., & Thompson, J., 2004, Entrepreneurs: Talent, Temperament, Technique. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Davies, H., 2009. The Eddie Stobart Story. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
McCoy-Pinderh, P., 2000, How to be an entrepreneur and keep your sanity: the African-American Handbook to Owning, Building and Maintaining Your Own Small business. Boulevard: Amber Books.