1. Week 3 – Looking for Opportunities
Entrepreneurship
Week 3 – Looking for Opportunities

2. New Business Opportunities
Innovation can be driven by
Places – Silicon Valley
People – Stephen Jobs
Company policy – 3M
The times
We will start by looking at “the times”

3. A Time for Innovation
Some times foster more innovation than others. The key is change. Change produces needs and opportunities. Changes can be good, or they can be bad, but both produce needs and opportunities. (But good changes are better)

4. A Time for Innovation
Change – the climate Needs – crops that need less water, barriers as ocean levels rise. Opportunities – companies that make water recyclers or new kinds of air conditioners should do very well.

5. A Time for Innovation
Change – smart phones Needs – places to charge the phones, quick repairs, easy upgrades Opportunities – New apps, more games on-line, new information services (Camel races.Com)

6. Examining change
So many things are changing so constantly, that it is easy to ignore important changes that might provide an opportunity for your business. To help leaders review change carefully, they use a heuristic called “PESTLE”. “Hueristic” – Greek – to discover

7. PESTLE
PESTLE is an acronym (series of initial letters) for important areas of change:
Political
Economic
Social
Technological
Legal
Environmental

8. Political Change Political factors include:
tax policy
labor laws
environmental laws
trade restrictions
Also, governments are consumers. They buy goods and services – sometimes more, sometimes less.
They also create the infrastructure of a country – roads, ports, schools – sometimes more, sometimes less

9. Political Opportunities
Example –
Oman has a good highway from Muscat to Nizwa. What opportunities would be created if the highway was improved all the way to Al Ain in the
UAE?
More traffic would likely lead to
More gas stations
More restaurants
More customers in the Nizwa mall.

10. Political Opportunities
Example – Oman supported the new University of Nizwa. What businesses have benefitted from the University? As a student in Nizwa, what needs do you see? What kinds of new businesses would students support?

11. Economic Change Economies change all the time –
economic growth
interest rates
exchange rates
the inflation rate
Oddly, while most opportunities are found during times of economic growth, many new companies are started during slow downs.

12. Economic Change
The price of oil has dropped by more than half. What does that do to the Omani economy? What are three consequences we will see in the local economy? Which businesses will be hurt? Is it possible any businesses will benefit?

13. Social Change
Changes may be local, or they may be global. They may impact a small group, or nearly everyone. Look for changes in
Culture
Diets
Population growth (or decline)
Age distribution
Career attitudes

14. Social Change
One of the social changes in Oman is the large number of young people in the country. What businesses benefit from an increasing number of children?

15. Social Change
Clothing styles also change. What kinds of opportunities are created when people change the kinds of clothing they wear?

16. Social Change
Social change happens all around the world. If you sell on-line, you can reach customers anywhere in the world. How can you follow social changes in other countries?

17. Social Change
Some countries export their culture. The U.S. has movies – Disney, Star Wars and tv shows. The UK had Harry Potter. Does Oman have any culture that it might export? TV? Movies? Books? How could you create a cultural export?

18. Technological change
Careful here. We tend to think only of computers. But these changes can include:
New energy sources
New drugs
Communications improvements
New ways of farming
New ways of solving problems (robots, AI, big data)
These have different impacts on consumers, employees, and companies

19. Technological change
Industrial technology – as technology allows oil companies to remove more oil from the ground, it is likely oil and gas fields will produce for more years – maybe for more decades. The result will be oil and gas income for more years. How will that help Oman businesses?

20. Technological change
Improved medicines have raised the life expectancy of Omanis from an average of 46 years to 71 years. As more Omanis live to an older age, what business opportunities does that create?

21. Technological change
How many businesses have been created by cell phones in Oman? What kind of businesses are there?

22. Legal Change Laws that might impact your business include:
discrimination law
consumer law
antitrust law
employment law
health and safety laws (speed limits or food changes)

23. Legal Change
“Omanization” is a good example of changed employment law. The government is urging companies to hire Omanis for jobs. Several businesses have been started to train and place Omanis in companies.

24. Environmental Change
The environment can have huge impacts on all areas of business. But here we combine the actual changes with reactions to the changes in:
Weather
Climate
climate change
This summer was especially hot in the region. What business opportunities did that create?

25. How an Entrepreneur looks at change
What problems are emerging that people might want me to solve? What opportunities are now available that weren’t before? How important are those problems and opportunities ( do they really matter to people?) Can I meet the problem or opportunity at a cost the consumer will pay?

26. How PESTLE impacts business opportunities
What restraints might impact my business from:
Political changes – tax increases or labor law changes
Economic changes – general down turn in the economy
Social changes – customer interests come and go
Technological changes – new technology might eliminate the need for my product or service
Legal changes – new laws could make by business less attractive
Environmental changes – draught could make by farm impossible