Lec 6

• Business opportunities


  Evolve and develop from an effort to fill a gap in the form of needs, wants and creation of value to the customers
• Sources of business ideas

  • Based on work experience
  • Based on hobby and interest
  • Based on chance encounters or observations while travelling
  • Based on family business
  • Based on suggestion from spouse, siblings and friends
  • Based on business networks
  • Based on local needs, wants, problem or finding gaps in the market place
  • Based on market trend or market growth potential
  • Based on copying successful business model
  • Based on franchise business
  • Based on searching and seeking of good opportunities in the environment
  • Based on experimentation, trial and error methods and better product development
  • Based on building internal strengths such as skills, capability, experiences, resources and networks so that you become the best and most suitable person to capture the opportunity
  • Based on readings from magazines, books and internet
  • Looking for good existing business for sale
• Entrepreneur


  • Hardworking
  • Alert to opportunities
  • Perseverance
  • Willing to take calculated risks
  • Tolerance for ambiguity
  • High need for achievement
  • Internal locus of control
  • Goal oriented
• Entrepreneur


  • Knowledge and experience in the field
  • Soft skills such as leadership, communication and negotiation skills
  • Adequate resources such as capital and human resource
  • Good networking with potential customers, suppliers, experts, potential workers, bankers and investors
  • Good viable business opportunities with many positive and attractive environmental factors such as market size, market growth, minimum or tolerable competition, good support system and a good business concept, strategy, sound business plan and meticulous execution details
• Strategic Planning For Small Business

  1. Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat (SWOT) Analysis

  2. Using the SWOT analysis, an entrepreneur can identify attractive and favourable business opportunities that match his/her strengths
• By nature, business environment is always like a competitive game, only the best will win the competition
• In order to win the game, an entrepreneur must choose a sector that suits his interest, aspiration, strength, capabilities and resources and find a market opportunity that offers him attractive and positive factors such as a sizable market, high growth market and minimum competition
• He needs to identify a business that he enjoys doing and has the skills to produce high quality product and can make this product at a cheaper cost and thus, can sell at an attractive price and in the process, makes some profit and contributes better value to the customers
• Macroenvironment Analysis
• Selection of Business Opportunities
• Business Model
• Business Identification
• Strengths


  Internal factors that give a business an advantage over others
• Weaknesses


  Internal factors that place a business at a disadvantage relative to others
• Opportunities


  External factors that a business can potentially leverage to its advantage
• Threats


  External factors that could cause trouble for a business
• SWOT Analysis


  A tool used to identify and evaluate a business's internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as external opportunities and threats
• Business Opportunities


  Potential avenues for growth and success that a business can pursue
• Strategic Planning


  The process of defining a business's goals and developing a plan to achieve them
• Only the best will win the competition

  A statement implying that to succeed in a competitive business environment, a company must be exceptional in some way, such as having a unique product, superior customer service, or a more efficient production process
• Competitive game


  A metaphor for the business world, suggesting that companies are constantly competing against each other for resources, customers, and market share
• Business environment


  External and internal conditions that affect a company's operations, including economic, political, social, technological, resources, organizational structure, and management practices