Caressing The “VUCA In Start-Ups”
What happens to “VUCA in Start-ups?” Do they have something different as an entrepreneur? The word ‘entrepreneur’ factually means an ‘in-between taker’; someone who gets 'in between' a supplier and a market and takes a profit by facilitating the exchange process as derived from French. The entrepreneur is a creator, who has the capacity to convert a potential idea into an actual one. The entrepreneur could create a balance in between demand and supply, or imbalance it to foster for new opportunities, which in this case may require innovation. Typically speaking, this entrepreneur would be responsible for creating new markets. Have you started thinking in this direction? Are you a “VUCA Learner” engaged in continuous learning?
Researchers are convinced that entrepreneurship is an act of a pursuit of an opportunity and capitalising upon the journey without major emphasis and consideration for resources. This is applicable to both the profit and non-profitable ventures. Entrepreneurs seek these opportunities and find a creative, reciprocally advantageous ways of bringing them to a concert. It is like springing of ideas, catching the right one, crafting a frame around it and then capitalising in the entrepreneurial journey. Get up and start this hot pursuit!
The Unique Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurs are flooded with innovations or act of innovation in the form of innovative practices. They are speculative with a clear understanding on degree of risk bearing ability. They have a knack for clear coordination between members, processes and systems, thereby giving them an edge for decision making. This comes handy, especially during turbulent times, like what the world is witnessing in the form of Covid-19. Their ability to steer their enterprise with the aid of innovative practices is worth mentioning. They are leaders of tomorrow existing in today’s world. They can distinct their position and create a niche, especially at times of arbitrage. We cannot miss these entrepreneurs engaged in creative destruction in the form of enterprise creation in pursuit of an opportunity. These entrepreneurs create new products, services, processes with ownership, with a focussed approach in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environment. Start thinking out of the box, it will evince with fine results, even if early failures will teach you a lot. They move ahead of being christened as a “VUCA Company”.
The Entrepreneurial context
These entrepreneurs in today’s context are participating in a complex interactive network. The proportions of these ingredients may vary. One process may call for high rate of risk and a relatively low degree of organisational understanding, while some others may demand a very high level of leadership.
The ‘entrepreneurial behaviour’ triggers the individuals’ for the creation of an enterprise. This is what entrepreneurship is about. It has been observed on sectors that are emerging, draw in a deluge of entrepreneurs to try their skills for creating a profitable enterprise. They in process eventually tend to stay competitive, resulting in addressing their firms’ survivability. Thus, if the actors (so called entrepreneurs) are right or wrong while evaluating their processes, it shall result to the emergence of winners and losers. These incumbent entrepreneurs are ordinary individuals, self-tasked to create extraordinary things with consistent and extra-ordinary efforts. They must take initiative and a baby step for organising self with capitalising on resource and capabilities. Potentially, risk taking ability must be exhibited at each point, thereby leading them towards creating an incremental wealth.
Entrepreneurship is built around a vision, rather than just a dream. This vision requires an action to convert the dream into a reality. This gets possible by the willingness to take calculated risk, both personal and financial and hence, do all possible to reduce the chances of failure. It is like possessing, the know how to find and control resources with innovative practices. Do you have in you? If no, one may look for answers in the forthcoming book entitled “VUCA in Start-ups”.
Lessons drawn
The core element in entrepreneurial process is the entrepreneur itself. Therefore, it can be characterized that the individual struggling in a trial-and-error process for survival and prosperity. These actors have a combination of accumulated human capital, their available capital and their entrepreneurial attitude. This enterprise creation would be a permutation and combination of different characteristics, coupled with the situation and opportunity with which the birth of the enterprise takes place.
Therefore, a new enterprise is found or not, completely depends on their respective environment. An industry’s economic development is an added evaluation criterion. Higher the growth vectors higher the persuasion in the related sector. These are the evaluation criteria and a verge for establishing a firm. If the rewards are ample, the tendency of the enterprise(s) cropping up increases and so called the entrepreneurial behaviour takes a lean to the industry or emergence of market to which the entrepreneur is associated. The complex phenomenon is fragile and fluctuating in nature till the final establishment of the firm takes place. There are no fixed recipes to follow. Evaluation matters!
The act of founding an enterprise depends on the individuals’ perceptions with realistic assessment of the business situations and the future is determined by the individuals’ resources with their dynamic capabilities.
The higher the growth vectors in the industry, more shall be the establishment of the firms and vice-versa. But then the competition intensifies, it is the smooth generation of the core competencies that shall finally decide the existence or performance of the enterprise. If it is strong enough to sustain the turbulence, it shall have to emerge as the front runner into the creation of newer product(s) or process(s) for a combination of old and new markets as well! Enterprise may emerge and vanish, and it depends upon the high degree of sensitivity to the coincidence of entrepreneurial behaviour and environmental conditions.
If you have thought of becoming an entrepreneur, remember, VUCA situations generate maximum ideas and opportunities to catch upon. Have you come across one? If not start hunting and the world is yours. Caress the ‘VUCA in start-ups’.
