starting a new business

STARTING A NEW BUSINESS

Introduction

Change is an essential part of Life . Life 's gifts are continually present here with us , inviting us to participate in the continuance of its telling . If we should wish to uplift our lives , there are unlimited choices around the globe . We could go to formal school and learn about starting our own business . We could also learn from our parents who have started their own business and pick up the necessary skills from them The general rule in business is that we should have the potentials

and the energy to do things right

Today , most people look at the world and see the destruction created by economic and political policies that were a consequence of valuing money over life . Many believe there is no real hope of changing the annihilate pattern of global capitalism that we are doomed to fulfil the argument that man is a killer at heart , biologically and psychologically wired for war and the never-ending pursuit of material self-interest without regard for the needs of others and of life as a whole

Accepting global capitalism 's There Is No Alternative (TINA ) philosophy however , falls short to recognize the growing number of projects people around the globe are engaged in . Such work is steered by the vision of building a truly sustainable civilization from the bottom up , founded on practices that give back more than we take from our irreplaceable home planet earth 's natural , living treasure-house

David Korten (1999 ) has provided a brilliant antidote for these people who suffer from the TINA phenomenon . There is great desire for everyone to take in the views and insights and let such understanding and perceptions live within and inform our own individual experiences of being and consciousness

It is important to study society 's beliefs in relation to any course of action which is believed to be desirable if the culture is not conducive to the action , efforts to train or otherwise to assist people to do it will be in vain . Culture refers to the people 's beliefs and attitudes that to what they actually do since people act because of what they actually believe in

Graham Bannock (1987 ) has come up with quantitative measures to communicate his point that there has been a sea change in British attitudes to enterprise , including growth in gross domestic product , new company formations , a decline in the share of economic activity concentrated in the hands of larger firms and activity and innovation in capital markets

Bannock (1987 ) accepts that even in the United Kingdom there have been no real efforts to study social attitudes to enterprise , on a longitudinal basis , and the only quantitative evidence he mentions which relates to public attitudes , as opposed to actual economic change which may have resulted from such attitudes , is the remarkable increase in the number of business-related publications over the period from 1970 to 1987 . It may be that a society which is experiencing a major change is too engrossed with the process itself to take time to measure it , but there is sufficient economic data , and anecdotal evidence of attitudinal changes , to justify the belief that something has changed in the United Kingdom in the last ten to twenty years , which we can properly call the growth of an enterprise culture

It is necessary to stress that a culture of any kind is a characteristic of a society , which need not be , and usually is not , the same thing as a nation . Many of the enterprise development programmes in the United Kingdom have as their purpose not only the growth of enterprise and economic activity in general , but also , and often more importantly , the development of enterprise among a particular ethnic group . They may be a minority , for whom enterprise can provide a route to a more equitable position in society as a whole , such as tribes in India or West Indians in inner cities in The United Kingdom , or they may be a majority whose political dominance is not reflected by their economic position , such as the so-called indigenous people of Malaysia or parts of the South Pacific

Starting a new business In economics , business is being defined as the social science of managing people to classify and maintain collective productivity toward achieving particular creative and productive goals , usually to generate revenue

Wikipedia .org ( HYPERLINK "http /www .wikipedia .org " www .wikipedia .org accessed August 11 , 2006 ) describes the etymology of business refers to the state of being busy , in the context of the individual as well as the community or society . Putting it simply , to be busy is to be doing commercially viable and profitable work

The term business has at least three usages , depending on the scope - the general usage which we described above , while the singular usage to refer to a particular company or corporation , and the generalized usage to refer to a particular market sector , such as "the record business "the computer business " or "the business community " -- the community of suppliers of goods and services (wikipedia .org

The singular business can be a legally-recognised unit within an economically free society , wherein individuals are categorised based on their expertise and skills to bring about social and technological advancement

With some exceptions , businesses are created to earn profit and grow the personal wealth of their leaders . Putting it the other way , the owners and operators of a business have as one of their main objectives the receipt or generation of a financial return as a substitute for their work - that is , the expense of time , energy , and money

Businesses may be classified in many different types as mentioned in wikipedia .org (accessed August 11 , 2006 . One of the most common motivations on the primary profit-generating activities of a business for example

Manufacturers create products , from raw materials or component parts which they then put up for sale at a profit . Companies that make physical goods , such as cars or pipes , are considered manufacturers

Service businesses offer intangible goods or services and normally generate a profit by charging for labour or other services provided to other businesses or consumers . Organizations ranging from house painters to consulting firms to restaurants and even to entertainers are types of service businesses

Retailers and Distributors act as middle-men in making goods created by manufacturers to the intended consumer , generating a profit as a result of providing sales or distribution services . Most consumer-oriented stores and catalogue companies are distributors or retailers

Agriculture and mining businesses are involved with the production of raw material , such as plants or minerals

Risky business is endeavoured by relatively few individuals , due to the risk involved

Financial businesses include banks and other companies that generate profit through investment and management of capital

Information businesses generate profits primarily from the resale of intellectual property and include movie studios , publishers and packaged software companies

Utilities produce public services , such as heat , electricity , or sewage treatment , and are usually government chartered

Real estate businesses generate profit from the selling , renting , and development of properties , homes , and buildings

Transportation businesses deliver goods and individuals from location to location , generating a profit on the transportation costs

There are many other divisions and subdivisions of businesses that may be added to this list . The reliable list of business types is generally believed to be the North American Industry Classification System , or NAICS . The equivalent European Union list is the NACE

The United Kingdom acknowledges that enterprise is a vital supporter to the health of our economy and to mixture of opportunity in our society Enterprise heightens productivity , increases competition and innovation creates employment and prosperity , and revitalises our communities Small Business Service (2002 ) illustrates that a dynamic small business community is central to enterprise in the UK , generating 52 of private sector turnover , and employing 12 .6 million people

It is the eagerness of individual entrepreneurs that compels small business success , but government , through its actions , can do much to motivate and support enterprise and help businesses overcome barriers to growth

Small businesses make a major contribution to the health of the UK economy and to diversity of opportunity in our society as mentioned in the SBS review (2002 . There are almost 3 .8 million small businesses in the UK . They come in many shapes and sizes : from high-growth start-ups to `lifestyle ' businesses and social enterprises . Together they account for over 99 of the turnover . They employ 12 .6 million people , representing 56 of the private sector workforce . They form part of the bedrock of local communities , contributing to both economic prosperity and social cohesion in towns and in rural areas

Storey (1994 ) illustrates that small businesses make an important responsibility in improving the productivity of UK business . New entrants and growth businesses augment competition by challenging incumbent businesses and they are an important source of innovation and new ways of doing things . The strength of the small business sector is therefore crucial to the government 's objective to raise the rate of UK productivity growth and narrow the productivity gap with the US , France and Germany

A tailored approach is in place to support enterprise in disadvantaged areas and amongst under represented groups through the UK government 's Phoenix Fund which offers support for projects involving specialist business support organisations in disadvantaged communities

In the UK , Korten (1998 ) said that the best way to sell something is to assert that the supplier was "by appointment " not even to a member of the present Royal Family , but to Queen Victoria or a member of her court , or that the company was established in the nineteenth century or before . Korten (1998 ) explains further that while Americans move West change cars or spouses and search for new solutions , people in the UK actually grin and bear it "keep a stiff upper lip " and prefer the mediocrity of what they know to the uncertain excellence of the unknown

In the six years from 1980 to 1986 UK 's rate of growth was 91 of the OECD as a whole , and in 1986 alone we finally exceeded the average achieving a growth rate of 2 .7 while the OECD as a whole grew at the slower rate of two and a half per cent

In recent years , however , something does appear to have happened in the United Kingdom , and it has not been precipitated by the type of shock which we have referred to earlier has there been a genuine change , is there now an enterprise culture which did not exist before , and why has it happened

Bannock (1987 ) gives a number of quantitative indicators both of improving economic performance and , more importantly in relation to our theme , of the growth of enterprise . British GDP grew between 1950 and 1970 at an average rate which was around sixty per cent of the growth achieved by the rest of the OECD

This result might have been achieved by greater putput from the existing stucture Bannock adduces a number of figures to demonstrate that this is not the case , and that the fundamental structure of our economy is changing . Any one or two of the figures might be taken as aberrant or irrelevant , but together they make a convincing argument for change , in the direction of enterprsie , as well as growth

The number of new firms registered each year has approximately quadrupled over the period from 1970 until 1986 , and the increase has been maintained at a more or less steady rate over that period . Less dramatically , but perhaps equally importantly , the share of the one hundred largest private sector businesses in output and employment changed as follows between 1980 and 1984

Year Share of Output Share of Employment

1980 40 .5 37 .2

1984 38 .7 33 .1

(source , Bannock , Op . Cit , Table A31

Management buy-outs are perhaps as good an indicator as any of the activities of enterprising individuals as opposed to existing corporations , since they represent a clear de-concentration of activity There were in 1980 one hundred and seven such transactions , of a scale meriting recording as such , and in 1986 there were two hundred and sixty

Similarly dramatic changes have taken place in capital markets , both in terms of the numbers of firms raising finance and new institutional approaches

Year Number of new firms Number of Venture

raising money on Capital Institutions

UK stock markets operating in UK

1980 58 27

1986 209 126

(Source , Bannock , Op . Cit , Tables 6 and 8

It should be clear to all but the most sceptical that something has happened in Great Britain : what has stimulated the change , and what can we learn from the experience that is of relevance to othet countries and communities

Bannock suggests that the British people finally lost patience with themselves and their own decline , and that they finally realised that "something has got to be done , to use the words of the future Edward the eighth when he visited the coal fields in South Wales during the Great Depression of the 1930s . Experience from elsewhere suggests however , that a shock is needed , rather than a gradual decline . At an individual and a local level , massive and regionally concentrated unemployment may have provided such a shock in the 197Os , and those who had savings on which to rely may also have been shocked to find that their value was being eroded by inflation to the extent of almost thirty per cent a year during the same period

During the period of the present Administration , there have been many changes , not all deliberate , and many of them painful ones . The Government itself has been headed by a omen for the first time in our history , and that may in itself have been a shock . The numbers of people unemployed have been higher than ever before , and the numbers of companies liquidated each year have doubled since 1970 , and are still increasing . There have been many other changes which have meant that people , and businesses , have to make more decisions , because they are no longer so bound by regulations all foreign exchange controls have been removed , retailers can set whatever prices they wish for most products and it may be that we shall soon have to decide for ourselves when to have a drink in a pub ! Job security has been reduced , and there are more suppliers for nearly every product and service , with their offerings differentiated in a greater variety of ways

Enterprise has also become fashionable , partly , it must be admitted because Government has made it easier . Anybody who has been unemployed for eight weeks and who has an even vaguely reasonable idea for a new business can satisfy the requirements for the Enterprsie Allowance Scheme , which gives them a weekly allowance of forty pounds and free access to a number of other forms of assistance . There is a whole range of programmes for almost every category of person who might want to start a business although few of them have been rigourously evaluated and enormous sums of public and private money have been wasted , becoming self-employed has become socially acceptable

A wide range of factors affect an individual 's willingness to consider starting a business . They include attitudes to enterprise in society at large , the information imparted to young people at school and at university about the enterprise option and perceptions of the risks and rewards involved

Enterprise needs to be seen and understood as a positive and worthwhile activity . It should be seen in this light not just by children thinking about their futures , but by people of all ages making career choices and by society at large so that those who choose to engage in enterprise are supported and encouraged Many of the factors that contribute to perceptions of enterprise are beyond government 's control . However , government can help spread information about enterprise in all its various forms and can provide gateways to both public and private sector support to budding entrepreneurs . Government can also play a role in providing opportunities for people to experience enterprise at key points in their lives . To date much of this activity has been fragmented and it is important for the success of the overall strategy , and in particular for the numerous private and public sector participants in it , that the government issues a clear and coherent statement of its support for enterprise

Running a business is already a career choice for a significant minority - some 18 of the working age population in England is engaged in enterprise .5 But women are only half as likely as men to be engaged in enterprise , and in parts of the country where there has traditionally been reliance on a small number of large employers , there are still relatively few entrepreneurs

Howard Davies ' review - Enterprise and the Economy in Education - highlighted the relevance of enterprise skills for those likely to enter the UK labour market in the next few years . In response , the government has announced that from 2005 /06 a new ?60 million Enterprise Education entitlement will provide all Key Stage 4 pupils with the equivalent of five days ' enterprise learning . From September 2003 , 151 projects have been piloting different approaches to delivering this entitlement

The key new action is aimed at making self-employment as attractive and well-understood an option as employment for those recently out of work or thinking of a career change . With more than 7m people changing their jobs each year , a small increase in the number considering the enterprise option could make a significant difference to rates of entrepreneurship

Government will carry out a review of the routes off benefits into self-employment to establish whether more can be done to encourage and facilitate moves into self-employment . Reporting in spring 2004 , the review will examine issues such as the effectiveness of government-sponsored information services in supporting the transition from unemployment to self-employment and whether more can be done to promote awareness of the financial and other support available including the Working Tax Credit

Conclusion

It is easier to introduce an enterprise culture to a society that has become accustomed to change , of any sort , than to one that is frozen in any condition , whether it be one of security , power and comfort , like the British aristocracy , or of oppression , minority tribal groups

There are many other countries , and peoples , which have been enterprising , and successful , because of external shocks which have forced them to accept and promote change in to survive . Japan and Germany were discredited and destroyed as a result of losing the second world war . In to restore their physical well-being and their self-respect they had to be enterprising , and the results are all too obvious for the victors who have had to compete with them

It may be that a sense of national disillusionment is a prerequisite but this may not be too hard to find , at least in some member states Given that this condition is satisfied , a government that wants to promote an enterprise culture should from the very beginning proclaim itself as a government of change . Politicians should not be afraid to promise pain before the rewards , and to admit that there will be hardship . The promotion of new enterprise , and the programmes designed to assist entrepreneurs , must have wide media exposure , and politicians must be willing to give up some at least of the headlines to entrepreneurs

The concept of `enterprise culture ' actually became known in the United Kingdom as a central motif in political thought under Margaret Thatcher 's administration . The notion represented a profound shift away from the Keynesian welfare state to a deliberate attempt at cultural restructuring and engineering based upon the neo-liberal model of the entrepreneurial self - a shift characterised as a moving from a `culture of dependency ' to one of `self-reliance . In education this shift took the form of the `enterprise education ' and the `enterprise curriculum This , utilising the perspective of Michel Foucault , analyses the `generalization of an `enterprise form ' to all forms of conduct (Burchell ) and the way in which the promotion of an enterprise culture has become a style of government characteristic of both neoliberalism and Third Way politics

Most importantly , perhaps , governments must recognise , say they recognise and act on the recognition that they cannot themselves do very much . All they can do is to publicise opportunities and allow and from time to time assist people to do things for themselves . Individuals , and businesses , must be free to fail as well as to succeed . Such functions as cannot be carried out by the private sector , and there are very few must be carried out by public organizations which are as subject to client pressures , and to the threat of dissolution , as any private firm

We should try personally to force ourselves into an enterprising state of mind , by self-consciously preventing ourselves and our colleagues from saying , or thinking "this cannot be changed . There is a famous prayer which asks for the strength to change what can be changed , the patience to bear what cannot be changed , and the wisdom to know the difference . Maybe we should err more towards trying to do the impossible , in the recognition that the pleasure of achievement comes from the attempt and not the success

Institutionally , we should accept and even foment rebellion , tolerate and even surreptitiously encourage "skunk groups " which , according to "The Pursuit of Excellence , are the origin of beneficial change , and be ready ourselves to break away , to buy out or to get out , The phrase "Enterprise Culture " is , after all , somewhat of a contradiction in terms a culture is about what is acceptable , but entrepreneurs do the unacceptable . We should be willing ourselves to break the rules and to tolerate if not to welcome others who do the same , and we may thus find that our family , our community and even our whole nation is of a like mind

Clearly an enterprise culture is the aggregate attitudes and beliefs , and entrepreneurship development programmes aim to change such attitudes , and to introduce enterprise culture at the level of the individual participant : we must recognise , however , that such programmes can only reach a very small proportion of any population . It is probably uneconomic , and may even be counter-productive , to encourage enterprise through these programmes if the small minority of ex-trainees are going to have to try to be entrepreneurs in a society which is impervious or even hostile to enterprise . It would be far more efficient if we could promote enterprise by generating an enterprise culture in a society as a whole

Starting a business in the United Kingdom these days would mean tremendous support from the government . Since the government understands the importance of small business enterprise , small business entrepreneurs are getting all the help they can get

References

Graham Bannock "Britain in the 1980s : Enterprise Reborn . Investors in Industry , London , 1987

Korten , D . Life After Capitalism . November 1998

Small Business Service . Making the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a business . December 2002

Carter , S , Anderson S Shaw E . Women 's Business Ownership : A Review of the Academic , Popular and Internet Literature . Report to the Small Business Service Sheffield . 2001

Mole , K , Greene , F . and Storey , D .J . Entrepreneurship in Three English Counties . presented to the 25th ISBA National Small Firms Policy and Research Conference , University of Brighton , Brighton , November 2002

Storey , D . Understanding The Small Business Sector London : Routledge 1994

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