Innovation is the specific tool of entrepreneurs, the means by which they exploit change as an opportunity

for a different business or a different service.”

Required: Select an innovation that you have studied this semester.
(a) Provide an analysis of the key factors that explain the success of this innovation, and
(b) Identify what you believe are the five most important entrepreneurial lessons arising from the
above analysis that could be applied to other new ventures or opportunities.
“INNOVATION is the specific tool of entrepreneurs, the means by which they

exploit change as an opportunity for a different business or a different service.

Entrepreneurs need to search purposefully for the sources of innovation, the

changes and their symptoms that indicate opportunities for successful

innovation.

http://thinkexist.com/quotation/innovation_is_the_specific_tool_of_entrepreneurs/32451

8.html

Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Practice and Principle

A reasonable question is: "What exactly is entrepreneurship and what constitutes

innovation?" Drucker begins his book by defining and describing entrepreneurship and

innovation. He described entrepreneurship as individuals who exploit opportunities that

change creates (such as in technology and consumer preferences). Drucker describes

innovation as what entrepreneurs do. Innovation represents "the specific tool of

entrepreneurs, the means by which they exploit change as an opportunity for a different

business or different service ... innovation involves, changing the value and satisfaction

obtained from resources by the customer (p. 19-33). Drucker argues that there is a need

for constant innovation because of the challenge of ever-changing customer needs,

technology, and competition.

Throughout his book, Drucker asserts that the two primary functions of business are to

innovate and to market. Marketing creates a customer, whereas innovation involves doing

something better to enhance organizational performance. Drucker emphasizes that, at its

core, entrepreneurship is market-focused and market-driven.

Ray Kroc took an existing product and business and by applying innovation enhanced

organization performance and created a new market. Drucker describes this occurrence as

follows:

Throughout his book, Drucker challenges the notion that entrepreneurship and innovation

are innate or represent personality-based characteristics or represent the domain of select

individuals or scientists. In the first section of his book, The Practice of Innovation,

Drucker convincingly argues that innovation rarely arises from "flashes of genius" but

rather innovation is purposeful and involves an organized, systematic process of

monitoring these sources of innovation for innovative opportunities (p. 133). He

identifies and describes seven sources of innovative opportunity: The Unexpected,

Incongruities, Process Need, Industry and Market Structures, Demographics, Changes in

Perception, and New Knowledge. Drucker writes that The Unexpected is composed of

three types of unexpected events: unexpected success, unexpected failure, unexpected

outside event. The chairman of Macy's told Drucker that the sales growth of appliances

was outstripping fashion sales, which was the store's focus, and grew to account for

three-fifths of sales. The conditions Drucker presents are as follows. Third, innovation

has to be focused on the market and market-driven; otherwise, it will not result in change.
The second and third sections of the book apply the concepts on innovation and

entrepreneurship to organizations. Through these sections, Drucker described ingredients

of entrepreneurial management, entrepreneurial business, and entrepreneurial strategies.

An entrepreneurial business is an organization that fosters and exploits innovation.

Examples of companies that are entrepreneurial and practice entrepreneurial management

that Drucker identifies include Procter and Gamble, Johnson and Johnson, and 3M.

Overall, Drucker provides a thorough treatment of entrepreneurship and innovation. This

book has been recognized as the first to present innovation and entrepreneurship as a

purposeful and system discipline. Drucker's work is thought-provoking and extremely

practical.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/152641356.html The Future-

Proof Entrepreneur: 25 New Tech Trends

These technology developments and trends will transform how your business does

business.

1. Web-based office software

The major software players are in a battle royal to sell you word processing, spreadsheets

and other web-based office software. There's Google with its Google Apps office suite,

Microsoft with Microsoft Office software tools and Adobe with its Buzzword online

word processor--not to mention new entrants like Zoho and ThinkFree. Yes, cloud-based

office tools really can save you money and make the tech aspect of your business more

efficient. The smart play: For optimum features, security and durability, install both a

cloud-based tool and a PC-based tool side by side in your business. 2. Mobile business
apps

All that cool software on Apple's iPhone really does have some competition: Google's

Android Market, Research In Motion's BlackBerry App World and Microsoft's

Marketplace for mobile apps offer software that compete step for step with code coming

out of Apple's App Store. Troll the app markets for tools you can use in your business.

Products like the Sutus BC 200 (price starts at $2,000) and edgeBOX office SOHO (price

varies by configuration) are combining phone servers, e-mail servers, routers, document

servers and firewalls into a single low-cost device.

5. Business-class text messaging

Turns out the plain vanilla short messaging service (also known as SMS, or text

messaging) on your cell phone can come in handy. Fast and robust, texting really can be a

business-grade communications tool. Top interactive projectors:

Epson BrightLink 450Wi ($2,199)

Smart Technologies Smart Board Interactive Whiteboard 685ix ($6,000)

New technology bonus: USB 3.0 drives are also engineered to use less power. 8. The

smarter ledger

Online financial software is one of the sleeper pockets of value in web-based business

tools. Our online bean-counting tool picks:

Outright (free)

Google Translate (free)

Now once-unimaginable services run natively on web tools. 16. The high-tech ceiling

fan

For businesses facing brutal HVAC costs, several outfits are reinventing the standard

ceiling fan to be a high-performance air circulation tool. Big fans: Gossamer Wind, Big

Ass Fans and Envira-North

Expect smarter versions of everything from spell checkers to complex decision engines to

show up in web office tools and business software. Low-cost RFID (radio frequency

identifier) devices from companies like RF*IDI will offer tagging and tracking solutions

even your small business can afford.

Jonathan Blum is the principal of Blumsday LLC, a Web-based content company

specializing in technology news.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217406