CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS ENTREPRENEURSHIP?

T HE M EANING OF E NTREPRENEURSHIP Entrepreneur: are people who take hold of opportunities when they see them They are willing to assume calculated risks as they look for ways to satisfy the needs and wants of others through innovation.

Needs: essential for human survival Classified as “real” or “psychological” What are examples of “real” needs? What are examples of “psychological” needs? Wants: are human desires that go beyond basic needs and are not essential for survival Make people feel good or help them achieve a goal What are examples of “want” items?

Imagine that you have received a really important phone call from the Head of their State, who explained, “We have a lot of problems in the world right now. If everyone all over the world used up as many resources as we do in the North, we would need another 4 planets! So we are going to conduct an experiment.” He has heard that the Ms. Dobrzynski’s class is an extremely bright group of people so he thinks it would be a good idea to send all of them to a new planet. The new planet has a good atmosphere, so there is clean air for you all to breathe. There is gravity so you all will not float away and there are no aliens, so you don’t have to worry about that. You will be given 6 weeks supply of food and water. But you may be sent off for a few months, maybe a year. There is not much time, because you all will be leaving within the next 30 minutes. So what you need to do is pack your bags and think what you need to take.

These are the objects that you can find in the room that you are standing in: Fertile Soil Mobile Phone Stereo Cow I Pod Seed Store Dance Music CD Chest of Medicines Sunglasses Blankets Saw Pig Solar-electric Panel Bicycle Car Electrical Generator Matches Crockery Toothbrush Knives and forks Make-up Bag Full Set of Clothes Soap Football Television &Satellite Dish Pencils Computer Plenty of Paper Library of Books Microwave Oven Wood-burning Stove Pots & Pans Baby Chickens Tree Saplings Endless Supply of Toilet Paper Big Store of Chocolate Clean Water or Water Cleaning Tablets A good bed Clock Camera

C HARACTERISTICS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL V ENTURES The essence of entrepreneurship is the creation and building of a venture to fill a market niche Entrepreneurial ventures are business ideas that are conceived, initiated, and operated by a person or group Can you think of any entrepreneurs?

F OR -P ROFIT / N OT -F OR -P ROFIT Profit: a business venture is usually undertaken for profit to make money Not-for-profit: their goal is not to make a profit but rather to raise money they need to deliver a special service or satisfy a specific need in society

S ERVICE P RODUCTION / G OODS P RODUCTION Entrepreneurial ventures can be organized either to produce a good (a product) or a service What are some examples of a good? What are some examples of a service?

L ARGE S CALE / S MALL S CALE Large business corporations or large not-for- profit organizations seek to satisfy needs or wants on a large scale, usually at a national or international level Smaller companies or not-for-profit organizations may work at satisfying a need or a want at a smaller, more local level Can you provide examples of each?

P HYSICAL / V IRTUAL Bricks-and-mortar locations are locations that customers could visit to make their purchases Shopping malls, car dealerships Virtual business is conducted electronically through e-commerce over the Internet Innovations in communications technology have made it possible for today’s entrepreneurs to operate very successfully without a store or showroom Can you provide an example of a virtual business?

L OCAL / P ROVINCIAL / N ATIONAL / I NTERNATIONAL A local enterprise is confined to one community Provincial entrepreneurship exists when an entrepreneurial venture grows beyond its starting location to other towns and cities within a single province A national enterprise operates in more than one province An international enterprise operates in more than one country

L OCAL / P ROVINCIAL / N ATIONAL / I NTERNATIONAL CONTINUED... There has been a recent trend to globalization, with increased markets throughout the world for large and small businesses Instantaneous communication allows individuals from all over the world to communicate, collaborate, and trade in real time Canada exports a larger percentage of its gross national product. The gross national product (GNP) is the total of all the goods and services produced in Canada in one year

L OCAL / P ROVINCIAL / N ATIONAL / I NTERNATIONAL CONTINUED... In order to compete more effectively, many countries have entered into trade agreements These agreements outline which goods and services can travel easily between countries and which ones will have a tariff or a tax added GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) GATT regulates and reduces tariffs among more than 100 countries around the world NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) NAFTA benefits north American business by gradually reducing trade tariffs to encourage the trade of goods and services flowing between Canada, the United States, and Mexico