Business Opportunity

Deakins' and Freel's (2003, p. 60) statement "Converting an idea into a business opportunity is the key element of the process of business creation" is an apt expression of the fact that most small businesses start with a bright idea that the entrepreneur then finds a way to make happen. The idea can be for a product, a service, or just a different way of serving an ordinary product, but it is that idea that is key, because it is the differentiating factor that makes the idea business's products and services stand out from the sea of other products and services already available. The idea is the perception of a need that the proposed business will fill. For this pivotal idea to become a successful reality, however, "The economic environment has to be conducive, there must be an appropriate culture supportive of risk-taking and you, the nascent entrepreneur, must have the confidence to ensure that the idea fulfills its potential" (University of Surrey, 2003, p. 11.1).

If converting an idea into a business opportunity is the key to creating a small business, then the first order of business for a would-be entrepreneur is to develop a winning idea that can be converted into a business. Robert Baum, assistant professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, studied beginning small business owners and found that "those who have a clear idea of how their companies will prosper are often more successful" (Witt,

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Category: Business - B