MGMT210-Entrepreneurial Mindsets and Traits

The essay will be prepared to discuss about the ways of applying theories, concepts and knowledge required to strengthen the entrepreneurial mindsets and traits for ensuring successful growth and development of the startups in Australia. The three entrepreneurs that have been chosen here as the case study are PurePonics, BlockFreight and Yume Food in Australia. The essay will also shed light on the various entrepreneur mental models along with the attitudes and behavioral traits that have helped in the transformation of the organization and made those gain a sustainable position within the marketplace.

Body

The three organizations named PurePonics, BlockFreight and Yume Food are chosen because these are startups and have already made a mark by achieving success and growth in business with the contribution by the managers and leaders. According to me, these individuals are hugely responsible for managing the workforce and even made sure to utilize the resources properly for ensuring that the entrepreneurs become successful and attain competitive advantage in business as well.

PurePonics has managed growth of food by aquaponics and trough proper management of hydroponics and aquaculture. The entrepreneurs Steve Gleeson and Paul Hopper worked with specialist researcher to make the company successful by urban farming, which lead to the production of good quality and healthy sustainable foods without any use of chemicals and harmful pesticides. The company created a positive mindset among the customers regarding its sustainable farming and this has created ease for the company to generate higher business revenue along with better expansion scopes all over Australia (pureponics.com.au 2018).

The psychological trait theories of entrepreneurship helped in managing psychological attributes and traits of leadership were influenced as well, which created convenience for the new startups to become successful within quick time. Few major theories include Need for achievement and power by McClelland, Locus of control by Rotter, Psychodynamic model by Kets de Vries and Risk taking propensity. The locus of control theory facilitated the controlling of one’s destiny considering the outcomes of their internal efforts and external efforts undertaken. 

According to Mauer, Neergaard and Linstad (2017), the social marginality model not only created a positive relationship between the personal behavior and attributes of the entrepreneurs but also has made them commit to something unique by carrying out their roles and responsibilities properly. This model fostered the proper management of three major characteristics and behavioral traits of the entrepreneur including the optimism, flexibility and ownership. The optimism characteristic of Steve Gleeson helped in maintaining a cheerful attitude that favored the possibilities of different approaches undertaken, irrespective of the challenges that might be faced (Mauer, Neergaard and Linstad 2017). The entrepreneur considered it as a learning opportunity, which developed his confidence and he took lessons from that to redefine the new ideas and foster innovation by remaining optimistic at the same time. While entrepreneurs often face difficulties in making a new found business grow, the internal locus of control theory helped in flexible thinking attitudes and allowed Paul Hopper to recover from failures quickly. Rather than cursing for the failures, he became more agile and developed structured approaches required for solving problems and at the same time ensured perceived limitations to overcome the issues related to prevention from advancing. Kyvik et al. (2013) stated that the ownership characteristic of the entrepreneurs further assisted in trusting the abilities of workers and considered the ideas and opinions to make PurePonics successful. Becoming socially responsible and contributing to the society by managing sustainable approaches further allowed them to increase their life experiences and this increased their confidence level to make the business successful, whatever the challenges might be (Kyvik et al. 2013).

The psychodynamic model made the entrepreneurs of BlockFreight gain the mindset of becoming self dependent and self employed while the sociological theory of entrepreneurship, especially the social marginality model has been the most effective for PurePonics. Blockfreight is the provider of innovative solutions related to freight, shipping and stock management. Accrding to Davis, Hall and Mayer (2016), the research and development activities helped in managing the import and export activities and even provide real time customer services solutions for enhancing the operational effectiveness along with elimination of costs incurred during the business operations and processes (Davis, Hall and Mayer 2016). Julian Smith, the founder of Block Freight has been a major entrepreneur because of the inheritance of enterprise culture via the role modeling. The role modeling theory has been useful considering its impact on the entrepreneur and the organization because of its cultural inheritance and maintaining strong business and ownership ethics for becoming successful in the future days to come. The entrepreneur has used his skills, knowledge and experiences with proper application of need for achievement theory to develop a sense of interest (Felício, Gonçalves and da Conceição Gonçalves 2013). This further made Julian Smith desire to achieve something more, not only for inner accomplishment of feeling but also for ensuring organizational growth and success.

The entrepreneur holds important characteristics and behavioral traits like leadership skills, commitment and connection. It has always desired for the entrepreneur to use the effective leadership skills and keep the team members motivated, furthermore empower them and provide them with enough support through sharing of vision and mission of the organization (Kivlighan et al. 2016). The ideas and opinions of the team members were considered, which generated scopes for new ideas and this has been possible with proper communication and established good connections, thereby creating a good network that the entrepreneurs often expect to build for successful business growth. The connections with other business and also with the employees have strengthened the ability and willingness to provide proper support and help, furthermore ensure coordination and better flexibility at work. The passion is another important aspect that has influenced the entrepreneur to keep going, irrespective of what challenges might be faced (Grabowska et al. 2015). The entrepreneur has drawn lessons from rejections and failures, which enhanced the self esteem and allowed him to move forward and face challenges to remain optimistic and flexible all throughout. This has allowed to adjust to changes and even ensured successful growth, development and higher revenue generation in business (Blockfreight.com 2018).

Yume Food is a wholesale marketplace for quality surplus food. Founded in 2014, the entrepreneur promises to mitigate the amount of food wastage. The startup has achieved accolades and glory by providing platform to large buyers outside the sales network within the threshold of Australia. This year the sales revenue of the entrepreneur raised to $2.6 million for spreading the awareness about harmful consequences of wasting food (Yumefood.com.au2018). Programs like donations of food reflects the attribute of “Commitment” towards ensuring the community wellbeing. Herein, mention can be made of the Katy Barfield, whose Samaritan attitude enhanced the fame and glory of the entrepreneur. 

According to the Jesinoski, Miller and Volker (2016), the functionalities of the entrepreneur relates with the attribute of “Connection”. At the initial stage, the entrepreneur lists the ‘surplus products on the web portal. The next step is the connection of the suppliers to the buyers on the digital platform. In the final step, the buyers get surplus products on discounted prices. This connection creates a community feeling, improving the stability in the relationship between the service providers and service users (Zhao 2016). The aspect of discounts reflects the approach towards improving the emotional connections with the service users.

The initiative of creating revolution towards eliminating 98% of food waste relates with the entrepreneurial attribute of “leadership” and “connection” (Yumefood.com.au2018). Taking the initiative towards eliminating the malic of poverty and hunger reflects the leadership approach. Involving the service users to join in the initiative is an attempt towards producing a collaborative attempt in terms of ensuring the welfare of whole of the community and society.

As per the arguments of Davis, Hall and Mayer (2016), food is one of the major resources, catering to the fulfilment of the basic needs of the people. As the entrepreneur intends to mitigate the food waste, therefore it reflects the use of resource based theories. This theory focuses on the use of the resources for availing the entrepreneurial efforts (Mauer, Neergaard and Linstad 2017). The records project that 3.9 million tonnes of food is wasted. Most of this food is from the commercial sector. Using this information, Yume Food exposes conscious approach towards getting access to the capital through the means of social networks and human resources.

The managers of the startup are conscious about the better performance of the staffs, For this, they provide training, so that they attain the attributes of flexibility in terms of dealing with thee external influences and challenges in an efficient and effective manner. Motivation is provided by the managers to the employees for enhancing their capabilities and learning skills towards the business activities (Günzel-Jensen et al. 2017). Herein lays the effectiveness of the motivational theories, which improves the relationship between the employees and the managers. Regulating the performance of the employees enhance the ownership of the managers. This regulation helps them to assert their trust and abilities towards the achievement of success. 

After reviewing the three entrepreneurs, I select Yume Food as my role model. This is because of the approach of Katy Barfield towards reducing the food wastage. It gives me immense pleasure to point out that such a noble thought enhances his self-respect. Carrying out donations spreads the glory and reputation of the startup across the corners of the world. Adopting social media marketing indicates a joint venture towards eliminating poverty and hunger from the society. Using theories and models proved beneficial for him in terms of achieving trust, reliance and dependence from the service users. Optimistic approach towards the carrying out the business activities makes Katy a leader.

Conclusion

Business models and theories are the agent for the entrepreneurs in terms of expanding the scope and arena of the business. Specific mention can be made of resource based theories, motivation theories, social marginality model. Among these, locus of control theory proves appropriate for Pure Ponics in terms of enhancing the business productivity. In case of Blockfreight, psychodynamic theory has been used for projecting the entrepreneurial traits and mindset towards expanding the business horizons. Resource based theories and motivational theories have been applied to the business of Yume Foods. This is in terms of inculcating the importance of moral wellbeing among the employees. Among the three entrepreneurs, Yume Food has been selected as the preferred role model. 

References

Blockfreight.com. (2018). Blockfreight, Inc. [BFT:XCPC]. [online] Available at: https://blockfreight.com/ [Accessed 31 Aug. 2018].

Davis, M.H., Hall, J.A. and Mayer, P.S., 2016. Developing a new measure of entrepreneurial mindset: Reliability, validity, and implications for practitioners. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 68(1), p.21.

Davis, M.H., Hall, J.A. and Mayer, P.S., 2016. Developing a new measure of entrepreneurial mindset: Reliability, validity, and implications for practitioners. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 68(1), p.21.

Felício, J.A., Gonçalves, H.M. and da Conceição Gonçalves, V., 2013. Social value and organizational performance in non-profit social organizations: Social entrepreneurship, leadership, and socioeconomic context effects. Journal of Business Research, 66(10), pp.2139-2146.

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Günzel-Jensen, F., Moberg, K., Mauer, R. and Neergaard, H., 2017. Self-efficacy and the entrepreneurial mindset revisited. In Revisiting the Entrepreneurial Mind (pp. 319-335). Springer, Cham.

Jesinoski, T., Miller, G.J. and Volker, J.X., 2016. Entrepreneurial Human Relations And Organizational Behavior. Business Journal for Entrepreneurs, (4).

Kivlighan Jr, D.M., Hill, C.E., Gelso, C.J. and Baumann, E., 2016. Working alliance, real relationship, session quality, and client improvement in psychodynamic psychotherapy: A longitudinal actor partner interdependence model. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 63(2), p.149.

Kyvik, O., Saris, W., Bonet, E. and Felício, J.A., 2013. The internationalization of small firms: The relationship between the global mindset and firms’ internationalization behavior. Journal of International Entrepreneurship, 11(2), pp.172-195.

Mauer, R., Neergaard, H. and Linstad, A.K., 2017. Self-efficacy: Conditioning the entrepreneurial mindset. In Revisiting the Entrepreneurial Mind (pp. 293-317). Springer, Cham.

Mauer, R., Neergaard, H. and Linstad, A.K., 2017. Self-efficacy: Conditioning the entrepreneurial mindset. In Revisiting the Entrepreneurial Mind (pp. 293-317). Springer, Cham.

pureponics.com.au. (2018). Pure Ponics Commercial Aquaponics. [online] Available at: https://www.pureponics.com.au/ [Accessed 31 Aug. 2018].

Yumefood.com.au. (2018). Yume - Food Wholesalers. [online] Available at: https://yumefood.com.au/about [Accessed 31 Aug. 2018].

Zhao, Y., 2016. Entrepreneurial mindset. Education for Sustainable Happiness and Well Being, Routledge: New York, pp.66-84.