Mastering Enterprise Skills For Potential Entrepreneurs: A comprehensive guide for understanding the enterprise skills, processes and tools to succeed in business.

By Munther Al- Dawood

This book aims to guide readers to learn the necessary enterprise skills to create and run their own businesses. It provides not only a manual for business skills​ but also a step-by-step guide that will enable readers to successfully master, develop and run an enterprise. This one-stop manual offers a simple explanation of all the essential enterprise skills and learning resources needed for a theoretical understanding of the topic, as well as practical tips for the budding entrepreneur.
A reader will particularly learn:
• The conceptual framework of enterprise functions.
• Skills, concepts and functions necessary to understand the enterprise.
• Tools necessary for assessing yourself as an entrepreneur.
• Steps essential for creating an enterprise, including developing a viable business concept, product-market fit and business model.
• Steps significant for running and growing an enterprise successfully.
• Tools for assessing the ability of your enterprise to grow.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781716733888

Book preview

Al-Dawood

Copyright

Mastering Enterprise Skills for Potential Entrepreneurs by Munther Al-Dawood.

Copyright@Munther Al-Dawood, 2020. 

Printed in the United Kingdom.

All rights reserved. Apart from any permitted use under UK copyright law, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information, storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher or under licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. 

First published: In 2020 in the United Kingdom.

The publisher: Self-publishing.

To contact the author: [e-mail] or www.growenterprise.co.uk.

To order: Both paperback book and e-book are available in Amazon and Kobo. 

ISBN: 9798614949204

Dedication

I dedicate this book to the souls of my true leaders in life, my parent, who taught me how to be where I am right now. I also extend dedication to my beloved wife Saida and daughter Ghalia, who were a great inspiration and support to my achievements.

Table of contents

Copyright

Dedication

About The Author

Grow Enterprise

www.growenterprise.co.uk.

Introduction

Executive Summary

Chapter I- Learning Enterprise Capabilities

Section 1- Business Nature

Business Purpose & Role

Business Motives & Dynamics

Business Type of Ownership

Risk & Rewards

Business Objectives

Business Growth

Enterprise and Entrepreneur

Enterprise Culture

Business Ethics And Sustainability

Enterprise Soft Skills

How Business Nature Performance Influences Business Activities?

Chapter I- Learning Enterprise Capabilities

Section 2- Enterprise Sales And Marketing

Market Research

Business Identification

Marketing Mix

Product

Pricing

Distribution Channel

Promotion

Customer Segment

Competition Analysis

Market Positioning

Selling

Digital Marketing

Customer Development

Tips For Winning Customers

How Sales & Marketing Performance Influences Business Activities?

Chapter I- Learning Enterprise Capabilities

Section 3- Enterprise Human Resources

Enterprise Resources

Organizing The People

Staff Recruitment

Staff Motivation

Protecting Staff

Communication

How Human-Resource Performance Influences Business Activities?

Chapter I- Learning Enterprise Capabilities

Section 4- Enterprise Finance

Sources Of Finance

Revenue, Cost And Profit

Break-Even Point

Financial Records

Budgeting

Product Costing And Pricing

Financial Ratios

Financial Forecasting

How Financial Performance Influences Business Activities?

Chapter I- Learning Enterprise Capabilities

Section 5- Enterprise Operation

Managing Production

Managing Quality

Stock Control

How Operational Performance Influences Business Activities?

Chapter I- Learning Enterprise Capabilities

Section 6- Assess Your entrepreneurial Skills

Assess Your Entrepreneurial Skills

Chapter II- Creating Your Enterprise

Section 7- Start-up Methodology

Start-up

Entrepreneurial Mindset

Start-up Motivators

Business Model

Start-up Funding

Business Incubators & Accelerators

Start-up Innovation

Start-up  Feasibility Study

Chapter II- Creating Your Enterprise

Section 8-  Creating A Business Idea

Sources Of Business Ideas

Approaches For Creating & Validating A Business Idea

Tips For Creating A Business Idea

Writing & Validating A Business Idea

Chapter II- Creating Your Enterprise

Section 9- Building a Start-up

Evaluating Influences

Developing A Product-Market Fit

Developing A Business Model Canvas

Validating A Business Model

Improving Your Business Pitching

Chapter III- Running Your Enterprise

Section 10- Creating A Strategy For Your Enterprise

Setting Up Mission, Vision And Objectives

Assessing Internal Environment

Assessing Innovation

Assessing Growth Opportunities

Assessing Digital Technology

Assessing The External Environment

Assessing Strategic Choices And Positioning

Creating A Corporate Strategy

Implementing A Strategy

Chapter III- Running Your Enterprise

Section 11- Improving The Performance Of Your Enterprise

Improving Sales And Marketing Performance

Improving Financial Performance

Improving Operational Performance

Improving Human Resources Performance

Enhancing Organizational Culture Performance

Chapter III- Running Your Enterprise

Section 12- Assessing The Ability of Your Enterprise to Grow

Description Of The Assessment Model

Assessment And Scoring

Assessing Enterprise Identity

Assessing Enterprise Governance

Assessing Enterprise Strategy

Assessing Business Planning

Assessing Cash Flow

Assessing Financial Management

Assessing Sales And Marketing

Assessing Access To Finance

Assessing Innovation

Assessing People And Skills

Assessing Operation

Assessing Technology Advancement

Assessing Sustainability

Assessing Change Management

Appendix 1- Additional Resources

List Of References

About The Author

Munther Al Dawood has extensive knowledge and experience in enterprise development. He is the founder of Grow Enterprise, which empowers young entrepreneurs to harness their business skills, create and run an enterprise. Munther is also the developer of the Lean Student Program, which teaches enterprise capabilities to secondary students in the UK. He has designed and delivered many entrepreneur support programs and volunteered on programmes that aimed to increase the entrepreneurial skills of students, such as the Mosaic Enterprise Challenge of the UK. Munther was the managing founder of Qatar Business Incubation and many other enterprise projects. He was also the General Manager of many manufacturing companies, of which he managed with unbeaten records. He is passionate about sharing his enterprise knowledge with the public by publishing blogs and articles in reputable publications.

Munther is also a well-respected expert in the enterprise-development sector and is the author of the business book- Mastering Enterprise Skills For Potential Entrepreneurs. He also writes for industry publications, including Forbes Middle East, and he speaks around the world on enterprise and entrepreneurship topics.

Munther currently lives in Berkshire, UK, and can be reached via his email: [e-mail] or website: www.growenterprise.co.uk.

Grow Enterprise

www.growenterprise.co.uk.

Grow Enterprise is an enterprise-education initiative based in the United Kingdom, aimed at empowering secondary students and potential entrepreneurs to harness their enterprise skills, create and run an enterprise. Grow Enterprise has developed a range of enterprise-training modules in compliance with enterprise vocational education in the UK and draws on best practice from around the world. Our vision is to enable the success of 1000 potential student entrepreneurs.

Introduction

Many potential entrepreneurs, including students and young entrepreneurs, are challenged when it comes to learning enterprise skills. These challenges result from the absence of a concise reference book on enterprise learning, which is informative, easy to understand and follow. This book aims to guide readers to learn the necessary enterprise skills to create and run their own businesses. It provides not only a manual for business skills, but also a step-by-step guide that will enable readers to successfully master, develop and run an enterprise. This one-stop manual offers a simple explanation of all the essential enterprise skills and learning resources needed for a theoretical understanding of the topic, as well as practical tips for the budding entrepreneur. 

The inspiration for this book came as a result of three decades of experience in enterprise management and the in-depth knowledge of enterprise disciplines which I have gained.

This book is a practical manual that provides a clear explanation of enterprise skills, and it is divided into three chapters, each of which describes a set of enterprise subject-matter skills. The first chapter explains business skills and guides readers to understand the conceptual framework of enterprise functions. It focuses on the skills, concepts and functions necessary to understand the enterprise. The second chapter guides readers to create an enterprise by developing a viable business concept, product-market fit and business model. The third chapter provides details and steps needed to run and grow an enterprise successfully.

The book also leads readers to write a corporate strategy, improve the performance and assess the prospective growth of their enterprises. With a clear focus on guiding readers to understand and practice enterprise skills, it also contains practical examples, activities and learning resources. For more information, you visit the book’s site on https://growenterprise.co.uk/book.

I hope you will find this book informative, useful and enjoyable to read.

Executive Summary

Why does this book matter?

This book presents a clear and concise framework for learning enterprise skills and shows the business capabilities necessary to understand and evaluate enterprise functions. It also explains the skills and best practices needed to create, run and improve the enterprise performance. This manual provides simple explanations of enterprise skills, backed by real-life examples and useful resources.

Through a careful reading of the book, you will grasp the enterprise skills, functions, and know-how needed to create and run a business. You will also be able to test the influencers and improve enterprise performance. Moreover, the book illustrates the skills and techniques you will need to create a new business, including developing a business concept, making a sellable product and reaching growth. After preparing your business model, you will learn the best practices needed to pitch it. You will learn useful tips to develop a corporate strategy and grow enterprise performance, alongside a comprehensive model for mapping the growth opportunity of a firm. Whether you own or plan to create a business, you can apply this model to assess the potential of your enterprise to flourish and grow.

What are the enterprise capabilities?

Chapter I- Learning enterprise capabilities

In this chapter, you will learn the business capabilities necessary to master enterprise functions. These skills include understanding the business, sales and marketing. They also include knowledge of finance, human resources and operations. You will assess your entrepreneurial suitability and prepare actions to plan for better improvement. The following is a brief description of the subjects covered in this chapter:

Business nature

Business nature shows the fundamentals for understanding enterprise functions. It explains the purpose and role of an enterprise in creating unique values, which customers want. Also, it refers to the resources an enterprise needs to produce values and the motives entrepreneurs adhere to create new business. As a business owner, you need to know the types of venture ownership including sole traders, partnership and limited liabilities, and the key differences between them. This information will guide you to choose the best-matching ownership type to your business and avoid any shortfalls associated with the wrong choice of ownership type. You will grasp the fact that setting up any new business involves risks and rewards, while profit is a claim of reward for carrying a risk. Thus, you will learn tips on how to better understand and mitigate risk associated with your business and aim for profitability. Increase your ability to set clear and measurable targets and learn tips to review and re-align objectives caused by the market dynamic forces. Ventures aim to grow to get cost advantages, improve competitive capabilities, grow sales and increase profitability. Growth requires investment and involves taking risks and for this reason, owners face the dilemma of whether to expand and enjoy any business advantages or stay smaller with lower associated profit and risk. Thus, firms may face diseconomies of scale, where they face the disadvantage of increasing unit cost, caused by weak control, ineffective communication and the demotivation of staff. This section argues issues about the economies of scale and equips you with tips to reach it and avoid any diseconomies of scales. You will also explore issues about how to set up an effective enterprise culture and stimulate your business to succeed. Understanding business ethics and sustainability is a key to any business success, and this section leads you to be ethical by making fair and honest decisions and improves the sustainability of your business by increasing profit, supporting human-being and community, and protecting the environment. Being a young or potential entrepreneur, this section orients you with some soft skills for your future employability including communication, resilience, problem solving, creative thinking, teamwork and decision making. Above all, you understand the interrelationships between the business nature and other business activities, and how this business nature impacts the whole business activities, including the way to sell, manage people and resources, run the operation and make money.

Enterprise sales and marketing 

You need to understand the customers’ needs and the market, which are dynamic, by conducting market research. The market research identifies customers’ needs, determines the most wanted market mix, analyse competitors’ offers and create a powerful business strategy. The market mix explains how a firm makes and sells products. It also includes the product offer, which comprises details on the product functions and features, price, promotion and channels. You will learn tips on how to identify the market mix for your enterprise that is exclusive and best meets the needs of customers. You also learn the influences of the market mix including the competitive advantages, the technology used, quality of products, financial capability and market forces. Segmenting customers and targeting the ideal segment is the key to the triumph of your sales and marketing strategy. Learn techniques on how to segment the market to subsegments and choose the most desired one. Such segmentation involves sub-grouping factors like customers’ values, attitudes, behaviours or motives towards a particular product. Learn key attributes of any target segment, which should be measurable, accessible, well-funded and have compelling reasons to buy your new products. Learn tools like the SWOT and Porter’s Five Forcers, to better assess the competition structure and identify the strategic choices to protect the market share of your firm. This competition analysis involves examining the core competencies, market positioning and market share of competitors. Get oriented with the basic strategies for competition, which can strengthen your competitive positioning and comprise choices of low cost, differentiation or focusing on the niche of the market. Learning tips and means about how to position your business and compete in the market, including assessing the competitors’ offers, your core competencies, value propositions and the demanded offers. Develop your digital capabilities and improve your communication, promotion and selling products by using online marketing tactics, such as website, social media, email, e-commerce and online apps. Digital skills aim at increasing customer experience, improving operation and innovating the business model. Learn tactics to discover, retain and grow your customers by applying particular tactics. Learn not only the skills to market and sell your products, but you also know how sales and marketing performance can influence the whole business activities.

Enterprise human resources

Enterprise resources comprise people, capital and assets. Any enterprise requires sufficient money and capabilities to run the business and achieve its mission. Human resources are people appointed by the firm to perform jobs. Learn tips and tools on how to organize people in your firm by building the fittest organizational structure and operating system. Take notes on the factors that influence organizing people, including the level of technology, the span of control desired or staff costs affordable. Know how to recruit staff in your firm, including writing job descriptions, advertising vacancies, developing selection criteria, interviewing procedures and appointing the fittest person, who meets the job specifications. Motivating your staff is the key to improve productivity and grow your business. Learn basic theories and practices of motivation and choose your favourite motivation schemes. Know the laws and procedures of protecting staff and customers and embed this in your plans to run your business. Learn about the Information Communication Technology ICT and embed such knowledge in improving the way you compress, store and transmit data, and improve your communication with your employees, customers and other stakeholders. Above all, this section will lead you to learn how human resource performance influences your whole business activities, including how you operate, sell, make a profit and grow your business.

Enterprise finance 

In this section, you will learn essential concepts about enterprise finance, including funding, revenues, costs, profit and loss, breakeven point, budgeting and financial reporting and analysis. Understanding financial terms enable you to interpret financial data, assess performance and make decisions. Know about enterprise funding, including selling equity shares, getting loans and winning grants, and the sources of financing that includes relatives, friends, banks, angel investors, venture funds or crowdfunding. Learn factors that influence your decision to secure funds, including the cost of financing, the level of management control, the sought support from funders and the desired growth. Understanding the financial concepts like, revenue, cost and profit/loss is significant for improving the profitability and cash flows of your venture. Learn how to estimate the break-even point and identify the lowest sales expected to reach enterprise profitability. You will also understand the benefit and implications of the breakeven analysis of your enterprise, including estimating the breakeven point and analysing the risk of achieving it. Financial records include the income statement, balance sheet and the cash flow statement, shows the profitability, cash flows and the net worth of an enterprise. This section helps you to generate and understand the financial records, and how to boost the profitability and cash flows of your enterprise. You will not only learn about working out and interpreting financial performance, but you will also learn how to analyse and forecast such financial data. Learn how to budget your business and set up a system to monitor and control it. You also learn how to estimate the cost and to price your products. Know methods to absorb fixed expenses and estimate the total cost of your products. Also, explore some pricing methods, such as cost-plus, historical or average costing and the average market price, and know factors that influence the pricing decisions. Such influences include the products, the channels of distribution, the market forces, the cost and desired profit. Financial ratios show the quantitative analysis of the firm’s performance, and such analysis involves using historical data to analyse and predict financial activities. Learn tips and formulas about how to measure and understand the financial ratios of your enterprise, that comprises the liquidity, solvency, profitability, efficiency and market prospect ratios. Learn how to forecast your financial performance by using the common-size analysis. Above all, you will discover how the financial performance influences the business activities, and you will build on this knowledge to set up your financial assumptions and increase the profit of your venture.

Enterprise operation 

In this section, you will learn about how to manage production, reach the economy of scales, control product quality and handle inventories. Learn techniques on how to run the production floor and elevate the level of efficiency and productivity. These techniques include learning about the production methods and how to choose the fittest method of production, and the efficiency influencers, that include technology, design capacity, workforce, operating systems, financial capabilities and the market forces. Learn about the economies of scale and the cost advantages, which can be a base for enhancing the core competencies of your firm. However, you also learn about the diseconomies of scale, which maybe because of the poor management performance, weak communication, low motivation of staff and lack of loyalty in the workforce. Controlling the quality of your product is the mean for business growth and sustainability. Quality management involves making products that meet the requirements of customers and the standards imposed by the local authorities. Learn quality management methods for quality control and assurance to ensure the quality of your products. Note the tips of controlling the inventories, including contracting with suppliers and ensuring the availability of items for production and selling. Since the inventory is expensive, you learn how to control inventories and save costs by handling the Just-In-Time and Just-In-Case stock. The level of stock held depends on production and sales plans, the nature of the items, quality requirements and the cost of materials. Above all, you will learn how the operational performance influences the business activities, including how to sell, manage staff and improve financial performance.

Assess your entrepreneurial skills

This is a self-assessment tool that you can apply to test the entrepreneurial skills necessary to study, create and run an enterprise. The assessment criteria comprise the critical knowledge areas and skills needed to conduct business, including passion, goal orientation, risk-taking, business skills, access to finance and more. 

In summary, chapter one explains the conceptual framework for understanding enterprise capabilities, functions and influencers. It also presents an entrepreneurial assessment model, that allows you to assess your suitability as an entrepreneur and plan for improvement. It also provides significant knowledge and analysis about the essential enterprise functions including the sales and marketing, finance, operation and human resources. This chapter guides you on how to interpret enterprise functions, test influencers and improve the performance of your enterprise. The business capabilities discussed will also enable investors to value firms and decide on investment opportunities.

How do you create and test a business? 

Chapter II- Creating your enterprise 

Explicitly, you will learn the skills necessary to create an enterprise, which includes learning the start-up method and building a business idea. It also comprises establishing and testing the product-market fit, business model and external influencers. You will also learn tips for pitching your business concept and win the approval of investors and customers. The following is a brief description of the main subjects covered in this chapter: 

Start-up methodology

Entrepreneurs apply the lean start-up method to develop and test their ventures, and this approach comprises continuous innovation to build up a start-up. A start-up which is a new business searching to be a company uses the lean start-up method to test its assumptions and create values. Learn tips and tools to develop a business concept, make a new product and grow your business. These tips include identifying a problem, crafting a solution and establishing a product-market fit. Also, you learn how to develop and test the business model- Canvas to grow your venture. Learn skills to test your business assumptions, while you build your business, by interviewing and collecting feedback from customers on the proposed offer. If customers approve your assumptions or value created, this means that your offer has significant demand and will most likely to succeed. It is significant to understand and apply the entrepreneurial mindset in creating a new business, as this approach influences the way an entrepreneur innovates and creates unique values. Know how to develop and test the business model to grow your venture. A business model describes how a firm creates, delivers and captures values. You learn start-up funding, including types, sources, requirements and funding considerations. Note the factors that influence the start-up funding, including the amount required, the cost of money and the management control. Other influencers include the exit criteria, lead time to secure funds or application requirements. Learn tips on how to estimate the funds required for your venture, as through projecting the operating outputs, working capital and fixed assets. Entrepreneurship is about innovation, which is the practical creativity and the ability to make new ideas useful. Know the techniques to improve innovation in your enterprise, including building a robust culture, that motivates staff to bring forward valuable ideas. Learn how to conduct a feasibility study, and examine the desirability, feasibility and viability of your venture. Learn how to test the desirability of your business concept by checking the acceptance of customers to your new values and test the feasibility by verifying the ability of your firm to make the new product and value offering. While the viability test examines the profitability and sustainability of your venture.

Creating a business idea 

Ideation is observing customers’ behaviours and identifying pressing problems that require quick fixing. Then, crafting a solution and creating value propositions that customers want. Self-assessment and mapping customers and existing values are practices of sourcing ideas. Interviewing business stakeholders and analysing technology can also be significant sources of ideas. Any breakthrough idea should be innovative, supported by competitive advantages, and carrying a unique vision and strategy. Disruptive ideas can either bring exceptional values or sell with low-end prices or create new customers. Learn approaches for creating and testing a business concept, including the design thinking, Google Sprint, lean start-up, lean stack and more. Learn tips and techniques on how to create and write your business idea, including details on value creation and delivery. The business concept explains the values created by the venture and the plan forward to realize it.

Building a start-up

In this section, you will learn steps to take a business idea through evaluating influencers, testing the product-market-fit, validating a business model and how to be ready for pitching your business to customers, investors or other stakeholders. In the real world, every firm operates in a dynamic environment, which shapes the way an enterprise works and sells. Learn the tools to examine the enterprise’s influencers including, the SWOT analysis, PESTLE analysis and Porter’s Five Forces. SWOT stands