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JournalofEntrepreneurship 1999 Kazmi 67 77
JournalofEntrepreneurship 1999 Kazmi 67 77
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Azhar Kazmi
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
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AZHAR KAZMI
Enquiries inspired by an urge to know and comprehend more about the entrepre-
neurial qualities and manifestations of different types of individuals form the bulk
of research in the area of entrepreneurship. This paper too falls in this tradition of
research as it presents a demographic and psychographic profile of and the type
of business strategies formulated and implemented by the young second-genera-
tion entrepreneurs in India. It goes a step further by comparing these with their
first generation counterparts to draw more generalisable conclusions. The find-
ings reinforce the point that entrepreneurs in general possess certain special char-
acteristics that sustain their need for high achievement.
Objectives
This section presents and discusses the findings of the study. An attempt
is made to highlight the demographic and psychographic profiles of the
young second-generation entrepreneur and his/her entrepreneurial com-
petencies. A discussion of the non-work activities engaged in by the entre-
preneur is intended to provide a realistic view of the person rather than
make him/her look like a super human being. The second part of the
fmdings relates to the adoption and implementation of business strategies
by the entrepreneur in the areas of fmancial, human resource, marketing,
and operations management.
As in 1996, the year of reporting, the age group of the entrepreneurs was
twenty-three to thirty-nine years, the average age being twenty-five years.
They joined the business between the ages of eighteen and twenty-nine,
the average age being twenty-one years. Except one, all the sample entre-
preneurs were male. Two-thirds of the entrepreneurs, i.e., twenty-four,
were married and had the support-direct or indirect-of their spouses
in their work. Almost all the entrepreneurs were post-graduates. Twenty
There were some statements (for instance, ’looking within before looking
beyond’ and ’life has to be viewed from different angles’) which demon-
strated that some young entrepreneurs think differently from the majority
of their counterparts.
Diligence: The capacity for doing hard work is a sine qua non for becoming
an entrepreneur. A high priority is given to getting the job in hand done.
Almost all the entrepreneurs exhibited these traits.
Creativity: The capacity to innovate, think of new and useful ideas, and
to approach problems flexibly and imaginatively is the hallmark of an
entrepreneur. A significant majority, thirty-three out of thirty-six entre-
preneurs in the study exhibit these traits in some form or other.
Perseverance: This refers to a characteristic tenacity in pursuing objec-
tives till they are achieved. The trait that keeps the entrepreneurs going is
the ability to keep on striving till one reaches the desired end. As compared
to a manager, an entrepreneur faces more problems and adversities. These
are overcome through perseverance, a trait that is exhibited by thirty-two
out of thirty-six entrepreneurs.
Need for achievement: All the sample entrepreneurs generally have the com-
petency of being highly achievement-oriented. They take responsibility for
their actions, persist in the face of obstacles and concentrate on achiev-
ing progressively higher goals. They derive pleasure out of overcoming
obstacles which spurs them to work for achieving still more difficult goals.
The second part of the research study dealt with an analysis of informa-
tion available in entrepreneurial stories about the types of business strate-
gies employed and the implementation of such strategies. Since the
published stories did not contain much information regarding the finer
aspects of strategic management, the attempt here is to analyse functional
implementation aspects in the areas of finance, marketing, human resource
management, and operations management.
There are a number of strategic alternatives available to an entrepre-
neur in order to achieve their objectives. They range from complex and
difficult options such as diversification to relatively simple ones like tech-
nical tie-ups with foreign collaborators. In this section of the paper, a
brief description is provided about the types of strategies employed. The
sequence of strategies described are in order of ranking based on the
number of entrepreneurs, out of a total of thirty-six, opting for a particular
type of strategy.
Joint venture: The liberalised environment of the 1990s has obviously
motivated several young entrepreneurs to enter into joint ventures with
foreign collaborators. Fifteen out of thirty-six entrepreneurs opted for the
joint venture strategy, almost all of them doing so for the purpose of
gaining access to technical expertise and for technology transfer. This is
understandable as the relatively smaller size of the units managed by the
entrepreneurs required liberal doses of technological inputs. Besides this, ,
the entrepreneurs wished to share the high initial development costs, spread
out risk, and derive synergistic benefits. Seven out of these fifteen entre-
preneurs have stated the purpose of modernisation indicating their effort
to provide technological improvements. They aim at increasing produc-
tion, lowering cost, and improving the efficiency and productivity of their
companies.
Diversification and integration: Diversification turned out to be the stra-
tegic choice of fourteen of the thirty-six entrepreneurs. These strategies
required a change in business defmition in terms of either customer func-
tions provided, customer groups served, or alternative technologies used.
The entrepreneurs generally used these strategies to move away from the
family business or to chart out an independent course of action.
Expansion: Ten out of thirty-six entrepreneurs adopted expansion strate-
gies for their business indicating their urge to substantially increase the
capacity of their units and scale of operations. More often, this option
Similarities
them for new ideas and adopt and follow certain mottos and philosophies
in their day-to-day working. They also exhibit a high level of intelli-
gence, diligence, confidence, creativity, pragmatism, and amiability though
with varying degree. They indulge in non-work activities such as reading
and travelling to invigorate themselves for the hard work they have to put in.
The entrepreneurial competencies are also similar for this group. They
are eager to look for and accept new ideas, arc able to look ahead and
take risks, possess a high intensity of need for achievement and demon-
strate managerial, administrative and human skills. Business strategies
formulation and implementation is also done largely in the same way as
the second-generation entrepreneurs.
Dissimilarities
Conclusion
(The author is grateful to Anika Raja for providing help in data collection and analysis.)
1. D.R. Gadgil, Origins of the Modern Indian Business Class: An Interim Report, (New
York: Institute of Pacific Relations, 1959).
2. Milton Singer, When a Great Tradition Modernises, (New York: Praeger Publishers,
1972).
3. K.L. Sharma and H. Singh, Entrepreneurial Growth and Development Programmes
in Northern India, (New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 1980).
4. S.S. Khanka, Entrepreneurship in Small Scale Industries, (New Delhi: Himalaya Pub-
lishing House, 1990).